Christmas Fire Part Two
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: The continuation of Christmas Fire Part One. The team is called out to a crime scene that involves a fire and several dead bodies. Could they be on the hunt for a serial killer? Will their Christmas be ruined in the process of finding the person who committed this crime?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Hi everyone. This is Part Two and continues where Chapter 19 of Part One ends. Also, just warning that the description of the crime may be too gruesome for some to read about.

Chapter 1

When Sharon and Andy arrived at the crime scene, there were still several fire trucks on sight. Chief Mason had called Sharon and informed her that the crime scene that her team was called out to was a house fire in the Crenshaw neighborhood, but it wasn't that simple. When firefighters arrived at the scene, the fire was mostly extinguished and as they moved through the house, they had discovered bodies that were dismembered.

As Sharon stepped out of the car, she saw the rest of her team looking over the area. She started walking towards Provenza and Andy joined her. "Lieutenant, what do we know so far?" she asked Provenza.

"Ah, Commander, isn't it nice of the Pope to call us for this," Provenza turned around and moved his hands around the crime scene.

"It is what it is, Lieutenant," Sharon said as she looked around as they waited.

"As far as we know, there are five bodies located inside the house. We are waiting for the fire department to give the all clear before we enter," Provenza continued to speak.

As he said that one of the firefighters walked over to where Amy, Julio, and Buzz were waiting and gave the all clear. Julio turned around to Provenza, Andy, and Sharon and gestured with his hand they were ready to go inside.

"Where's Lieutenant Tao?" Sharon asked the group. "He's with Kendall over there," Amy stated and pointed to the garage of the house.

"Amy, can you find out how this fire was started please," Sharon gave her an order and she nodded.

Sharon followed Provenza into the house as Andy stepped in behind her. They all had their flashlights out and aiming at the direction of where they were walking. As soon as she stepped in, Sharon was overwhelmed by the smell of burnt flesh and wood.

"Commander, you might want to put this on as we move closer to where the bodies are located," Mike told her and handed her a mask. "Thank you," she told him and placed the mask over her nose and mouth.

Mike handed the rest of the masks to the team and they went further towards the back of the house. Buzz was filming every aspect of the house as they walked. The team came to the room where the bodies were located. Kendall moved towards the room and then stopped.

"Jesus," Kendall muttered under his breath as he stepped inside the room and saw the remains of the bodies.

Andy stepped in front of Sharon, shielding her at first from having to look at the bodies but couldn't hold her back for long as she stepped right in after him and saw the room. The bodies were half burned and there were several cuts on the remaining flesh.

"What sick bastard would do this?" Andy said as he looked around, shining his flashlight, and then turned to Sharon. He saw the sadness in her eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked her and she quickly nodded yes.

"Kendall?" Sharon cleared her throat before she said his name. "From what I can tell right now, I'm going to say they were slashed and stabbed prior to the fire. Judging from the dried blood on the parts that are not burned, I would say time of death maybe 4 or 5 hours ago?" Kendall stated as he moved and looked at the bodies.

Just then, Amy met back up with them and walked over to Sharon. "I spoke with the Battalion Chief and he stated to the best of his knowledge, the fire started in the kitchen, the stove was turned on and it moved from there," she told her.

"So, no traces of accelerants used then?" Sharon asked out loud. "The Battalion Chief didn't think so," Amy responded and then Mike jumped into the conversation. "Commander, take a look over here," he said and Sharon walked back into the kitchen to join him.

"See this here," Mike pointed to something along the wall behind the stove that was pulled out. "What am I looking at?" she asked as Mike held the flashlight on the area. "It's an "O" ring, most gas appliances have them. They're not supposed to have this ding on them though," Mike continued.

"Could mean somebody tampered with it before the fire happened?" he added and then stood up along with Sharon. "The problem is we're not going to know," Mike concluded and Sharon walked back to where Andy was standing.

"Kendall said Morales might be able to get fingerprints off of the bodies, depending on how bad they really are when they get them to the morgue," Andy informed her and she acknowledged.

"We need to find out who owned this house and where they are," Sharon said and started to walk out of the house. She saw Julio talking to some of the neighbors and walked up to Provenza who was already outside.

"Commander, Julio is trying to get some more information from the neighbors, Kendall said it may take a while for the bodies to be ready at the morgue, do you want to head back to the office?" Provenza asked.

"Yes, have everyone meet back there when they are finished here," she told him and he nodded.

Andy walked with Sharon back to their car. He opened the passenger door for her and she slipped into the seat and settled herself. He closed the door, took one more look at the scene, and walked to the driver's side and started the car.

The drive was silent as Andy drove the car on Interstate 10. There was hardly any traffic on the road at that late of an hour. As the car turned North and headed on the 110 towards Downtown LA, Sharon reached over on the center console and intertwined her fingers with Andy's.

"Who would do something like that?" Sharon asked Andy as he drove them to the PAB. "A very sick person," Andy responded, shaking his head at the images of the bodies in his mind. Sharon took a deep breath and continued to look out the window. In no time they were pulling into the parking garage at the PAB and Andy parked the car in his spot.

He turned the car off and glanced at Sharon. She didn't move from her seat yet and he respected that she wanted to sit there for a minute. "Sharon?" he whispered as he waited for her to be ready.

"I'm fine Andy," she gave him a small reassuring smile. He squeezed her hand and they both exited the car. They walked to the elevators and Sharon leaned her head on Andy's shoulder as they rode up to the 9th floor. He glanced down at her but didn't say anything.

When they stepped off the elevator, Sharon was a little ahead of Andy as they walked back into the Murder Room. Sharon opened the door to her office and Andy went to his desk. He placed his travel coffee mug on top of his desk and sat down.

He stretched his neck and his shoulders while he sat there. He looked back to see what Sharon was doing in her office and he saw her staring out the window at the city. He knew this was going to be a hard case to deal with. By the time he turned on his computer, Provenza and Buzz walked in the room.

"I'm going to screen print the photos of the scene that I took, give me about ten minutes to do so, Lieutenant," Buzz told Provenza. "Take your time Buzz," Provenza waved his hand at him and went to his desk.

Andy stood up from his desk and walked over to join Provenza. "This is going to be a hard one," Provenza mumbled to him as he looked to see what Sharon was doing. "How is she?" he asked Andy.

Andy turned around and glanced towards her office. "She said she's fine but I know this is going to be a more gruesome case than she's used to," Andy shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon was in her office, sitting at her desk, when she looked up and saw Buzz walking over to the Murder Board and handed Andy the pictures that he took at the scene. She took that as her queue to join her two Lieutenants out there. She stood up and pulled her cardigan sweater closed and walked outside her office.

Andy started to place the photos on the board as Sharon walked over to where Provenza was sitting. "Lieutenant, did we find out who owns the house where the fire was located?" she asked him. "Ah, not yet Commander, but my guess is once we identify the bodies that were discovered in the house, we will stumble upon the owners," Provenza answered her.

Sharon gave him a look that he hasn't seen in a long time. Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed as she crossed her arms. Provenza cleared his throat before he answered her again. "I'll run the address with the city and see what we have," he mumbled. "Thank you," she simply said to him.

She turned her attention to Andy who was finished with the pictures. "If the fire department said that the fire wasn't started by arson, then how was it able to spread quickly through the house, almost destroying the whole structure?" she asked him.

"Not sure. What was Mike showing you at the house?" Andy asked as he followed her back towards her office door. She stopped and rubbed her forehead. "He thinks there might have been a faulty ring around the stove, an "O" ring, he suggested that someone could have tampered with it," she told him and he nodded, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Just then, the rest of the team came walking into the Murder Room. Andy moved to lean up on an empty desk while Julio, Amy, and Mike filtered into their desks. "Commander, I spoke to the neighbors across the street from the house. They said the Millers resided there, but they haven't seen them in a couple of days. Didn't know if they went out of town or not," Julio stated as he read from his notebook.

"Hmm, the Millers," Sharon said as she walked from the desk to the board. "Lieutenant Provenza, perhaps you can start there," she eyed him with a smirk. "Yes, Commander," Provenza cleared his throat as he mumbled. Sharon wrote down the name on the board and turned around to face the team.

Julio and Amy laughed at Provenza for a brief second and then returned to the seriousness of the case. "Kendall counted five bodies at the scene, but the Millers are a family of two," Amy added and Sharon wrote that on the board.

"So, five bodies, the Millers are a family of two, if the bodies do belong to the Millers, who are the other three?" Sharon questioned as she looked at her team. "They could be anyone from family to friends," Mike suggested.

"Or complete strangers," Andy added, shrugging his shoulders. Sharon turned to the board again and glanced at the pictures. "No identification was left?" she asked.

"No," Mike answered her and walked over to the printer to pick up the paper that he had sent there.

"Here's what an "O" ring should look like on the back of a stove, and here is what it looked like on the back of the stove inside the house," Mike pointed out as he put the pictures on the board.

"We'll need the fire department's final report on the matter before we can jump to conclusions on how the fire started, meanwhile let's concentrate on the bodies that were discovered in the house," Sharon told her team.

"From the way they were cut up, are we looking at a serial killer?" Julio asked. "That and/or someone who likes fire," Provenza added.

Andy swallowed hard at that thought. He wasn't going to bring up his name again. He thought running into him on the street the other day was just a coincidence. Besides, why would Provenza bring up that if the only one who knew he had run into Croelick was Sharon.

"Croelick doesn't dismember his victims like the ones that were discovered," Andy found himself answering Provenza's statement and glanced over at Sharon. She nodded in agreement. He straightened up from leaning on the desk when she walked over to him.

"Let's concentrate on the bodies first, see if any missing person reports were filed recently," Sharon suggested again to her team, lightly touching Andy's forearm, and walked towards her office. That simple touch from her grounded him as he watched her retreat to her office.

Andy started to walk back to his desk when Provenza called out his name. "Flynn!" he said and Andy turned around and looked at him. "What?" he asked as everyone else got back to the task at hand. Provenza simply pointed to the hallway and stood up from his desk. Andy hung his head and followed him out there.

"You know the Commander said we need to concentrate on the bodies and identifying them, I don't think she meant for us to have a meeting out here," Andy started as soon as they stepped outside the office. No one was around so they didn't have to worry about being interrupted.

"What's going on?" Provenza asked him. "I don't know what you're talking about," Andy answered and folded his arms across his chest. "Why don't you start by telling me what happened to your face?" Provenza quipped back at his friend.

Andy huffed and scratched his head before he spoke. "We went to Emily's performance Friday night, like planned, and Jack was there with his date, one thing leads to another, and at the end of the night, we end up throwing punches at each other," he muttered.

"Oh, I'm sure the Commander wasn't too thrilled with that," Provenza raised his eyebrows as he looked at Andy. "Hard to tell," Andy mumbled as he leaned up against the wall. Provenza gave him a look and inquired further.

"He threw the first punch if that's what you're wondering," Andy added and started to walk towards the break room. "Hey, I'm not done with this conversation yet," Provenza followed him. "Then follow me to the break room," Andy was irritated now as he turned the corner and opened the Break Room door.

"Everything is fine between Sharon and me if that's what you're worried about," Andy offered that little fact and started to make a pot of coffee. "I'm not worried about that, that's between you and the Commander," Provenza stated.

"But I am worried about you and your obsession with Croelick," Provenza added which shocked Andy. "My obsession, with that dirtbag!" Andy turned around and looked at his friend. "Why else would you bring up his name so quickly?" Provenza asked him.

Andy was going to say something but then closed his mouth and just shook his head. "Don't worry about that," he simply told Provenza as he waited for the coffee to be ready. Provenza looked at him and nodded.

"Do you want a cup?" Andy asked him. "What do you think?" Provenza quickly responded as he took his mug from the cabinet and placed it on the counter in front of Andy.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Listen to Doctor Morales's warning if you don't want to read about the bodies discovered. It is pretty gruesome.

Chapter 2

Jeffery sat in the basement of his house, tinkering with a sawdering iron and some sheet metal on his work bench. The small TV was on and he was distracted by it. The news was covering the fire and discovery of the five bodies inside the house. They did not mention anything about the bodies being dismembered or what the status was. The news reporter just stated that the LAPD Major Crimes Division was looking into the investigation.

Jeffery looked up at the TV when the reporter stated that and saw members of the LAPD walking at the crime scene. "Wow Jeffery, your handiwork has gotten the attention of the Major Crimes detectives," he said to himself out loud and smiled. The camera showed a brief picture of Sharon, which had caught the eye of Jeffrey and he paused the TV and looked at her.

"Hmm, I wonder who she is?" he said to no one because he was alone in the basement. He turned off the TV and unplug the sawdering iron from his work bench. He wiped his hands with a rag and proceeded upstairs. The sun was just starting to peek through his windows in his house. He walked into the kitchen and sat down in front of his laptop at the table. "Let's see what Google tells us about the Major Crimes division of the LAPD," he smirked as he typed away on his computer.

Meanwhile, the sun was rising above the horizon and shining on the buildings downtown. Sharon was staring at her computer, still working on the budget for next year while her team gathers more information on their victims and the type of person they could potentially be dealing with.

A knock on her door drew her attention away from her computer. "Come in," she cleared her throat and the door opened. Provenza walked through towards her desk. "Doctor Morales called, he said to give him another hour and he will be ready for us," he told her and she nodded.

"Okay, good," she simply replied and then glanced out of her office at the rest of her team. "We were finally able to confirm with the building department that the Millers do own that house where the fire and bodies were located," Provenza stated. "A Howard Miller is listed as the owner of the house, along with his wife, Patrice Miller," he added.

"Flynn looked up their vehicle records and is currently putting their pictures up on the board," he gestured behind him and she saw Andy standing by the board. "Good, did Mike ever get the report from the Fire Department?" she asked him.

"Ah, yes and no. He's been on the phone going back and forth between the fire investigator and the fire chief's office," Provenza told her. Sharon glanced towards Mike's desk but he wasn't there. "Okay, have we checked with ViCAP to see if there are any murders mimicking the one that was discovered," Sharon asked.

"I have Julio running that, hopefully it comes back to something soon," Provenza answered her. She hummed in agreement and leaned back in her chair. Her and her team thought they would have an easy week before Christmas, they had just finished up the one case and now they were thrown into another. This case seemed to be one of the worst yet, at least since Sharon had taken over command of the team.

Meanwhile, at the Flynn house, Matthew was just starting to get up. He looked around the room and found Moxie sleeping on the floor. Matthew got out of bed and he didn't want to disturb Moxie but as soon as he got up, Moxie got up and followed him.

They walked into the hallway and Matthew saw that his parent's room was open. He walked further towards and stepped inside the room but didn't see his mom or dad there. "Maybe they're downstairs?" he said to Moxie and they both went towards the stairs and made their way down.

Matthew made his way towards the kitchen and noticed the light over the table was on. He walked over to the table and sat down. Moxie sat next to him. Matthew stayed sitting there for a couple of minutes. He wondered where they could be. He looked down at the table and saw a note. He picked it up and read it.

"Matthew, Daddy and I were called very early this morning to work. Emily will watch you until she has to leave for the ballet this afternoon. Please behave, Love, Mom," he read out loud. He looked down at Moxie who was looking up at him. "Are you hungry?" he asked the dog and he started to wag his tail as he sat there.

Matthew went into the mud room area where they kept Moxie's food and filled his bowl. He brought the bowl into the kitchen and placed it on the counter. He got out a bowl for himself and grabbed the cereal box, pouring Fruit Loops into the bowl, a little too high to the rim. He went to the refrigerator and got out the milk, pouring it into the bowl and some cereal overflowed.

He walked back to the kitchen table with both bowls of food and placed Moxie's bowl on the floor. Moxie ate his food right away. Matthew sat back down at the kitchen table and ate his bowl of cereal.

After they were both done eating, Matthew and Moxie walked into the family room and Matthew turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels on the TV, he found a cartoon that he liked and started watching it. He sat on the couch and Moxie sat next to him. Matthew didn't have the TV on too loud because he didn't want to disturb Emily, who was still sleeping upstairs.

Back at the PAB, Buzz returned with a box of bagels and cream cheese and placed it on the empty desk next to Andy's desk. "Did you get my blueberry muffin, Buzz?" Provenza asked him as he sat at his desk. "Yes, Lieutenant I got your muffin," Buzz rolled his eyes which made Andy chuckle.

Sharon came out of her office and saw that Buzz had returned. She ran her hand along Andy's shoulders as she made her way to the center of the office. "Thank you Buzz," she told him and he nodded, grabbing a bagel and heading towards his desk.

One by one, Julio walked over to get a bagel followed by Amy and Mike. "Where are we so far?" Sharon inquired as she looked at the Murder Board.

"I finally heard back from the fire department, it's not their final report but it does show there was no accelerant used to start the fire, and the fire was most likely caused by the stove being left on, with the faulty "O" ring the natural gas escaped, and all that was needed was a spark," Mike stated as he gestured with his hands the movement of an explosion.

"Was there an actual explosion?" Sharon asked him. "Hard to say, I'm sure that will be in their final report," Mike shrugged his shoulders and returned to his computer screen. "It is not ruled accidental, Commander," he added as he read the report off of his screen.

Sharon nodded and turned back to the board. "Do we have a background on our homeowners yet?" she looked at the Millers' pictures on the board. Provenza's phone rang and he answered it and then hung up. "No not yet, Commander. And, Doctor Morales is ready for us," he somberly stated.

"Andy, Lieutenant Provenza, join me in the Morgue, Amy, please run financials on our couple, let's see if anything stands out. Julio, call Chief Howard and see if he can maybe speed up ViCAP's response to us," Sharon told them and then walked out into the hallway with Provenza and Andy.

Sharon pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Rusty, explaining that they had been called out and asking him to stay with Matthew when Emily leaves for the theater. She was surprised she got a response from him right away. She put her phone back in her pocket of her jeans.

"Everything okay?" Andy asked her as Provenza pushed the button for the elevator. "Yes, Rusty said he can watch Matthew when Emily goes to the theater," she smiled and he nodded. All three stepped into the elevator.

When they arrived at the morgue, Andy handed Sharon a gown and she placed it over her clothes. He did the same and so did Provenza. They waited out in the hallway until Doctor Morales opened the door to the exam room.

"Just want to warn you all, this is not for the faint of heart," Doctor Morales informed them before they stepped inside. One of the bodies discovered was on the main table as they walked in. Another body was on the second table in the room.

"The other three bodies are in the other room next door," Doctor Morales said as he walked back to the main table. "I was able to identify this body from his fingerprints. Meet Howard Miller," Doctor Morales pointed to the body on the table and Sharon sighed.

"Damn," muttered Provenza as he allowed Sharon to move closer to the body. "As you can see from his wounds, he died from being stabbed twenty-five times, causing rapid blood loss to his body," Doctor Morales stated as he pointed to the knife wounds.

"Do we know what type of knife did this?" Sharon asked the Doctor. "Well, from what I can tell from measuring the wounds, and how deep they went, the knife used is a 6-inch blade, with a jagged edge," he answered her and grabbed a fake knife from the counter. "Kind of like this one," he added, handing the fake knife to Andy.

"Judging from the knife wounds and the location, I would say your perpetrator knew Mister Miller here," Doctor Morales then positioned Provenza and Andy. "Lieutenants, step over here and I'll show you," he asked them and they cooperated.

"More than likely, this was the first knife puncture wound that was done," Doctor Morales said and then told Andy to thrust the knife towards Provenza's stomach. "As he thrusted the knife into the stomach, he twisted the knife to make the wound bigger, there by more blood loss than a typical knife wound to the area," he explained as Sharon watched.

"And judging by the angle of insertion, I would say your killer was at least 6-foot tall," the doctor added as Andy returned the knife to the counter and moved around the table to be on the same side as Sharon.

"You said you ran his fingerprints, is he in the system?" Sharon asked. "Yes, but he's never been arrested if that's what you're alleging to," Doctor Morales answered as he moved to the counter to pick up a clipboard. He flipped over a page. "The reason he's in the system is because he was in the military, Navy, and retired from them," he added.

"Great, that means we're going to have to deal with the military's criminal investigative service on this one," mumbled Provenza. "Not necessarily Lieutenant," Sharon told him. "How did our killer know the victim?" she asked and they moved on to the second body in the room.

"Moving on, meet Howard's wife, Patrice Miller. I was able to identify her through dental records," Doctor Morales explained. "Ah geeze," muttered Andy as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She wasn't so lucky with how she died," Doctor Morales explained as he showed them her body.

"Her fingers were cut off by the same knife and then she was stabbed repeatedly," he explained. "More than likely, she was the first one killed between the two of them," Doctor Morales then walked over to the other door and opened it. "The other three bodies are in here," he informed them and Provenza followed the Doctor, leaving Andy and Sharon behind for a moment.

Sharon stared at the body. It wasn't until Andy placed his hand on the small of her back that her gaze ceased. "You okay?" he asked her, quietly as she looked up at him. "Whoever did this is a monster, Andy," she told him and she started to walk into the other room. Andy sighed and followed her.

"Now, these three bodies I do not believe were killed on the same day as the Millers," Doctor Morales explained when they were all in the room. "Why is that, Doctor?" Sharon cleared her throat as she spoke.

"Because, these bodies were frozen after they were killed," Doctor Morales stated. "Frozen! Are you sure Doctor?" Provenza asked. "Yes, Lieutenant, if you look here, that's frostbite on the fingertips," Doctor Morales pointed to the redness on the body's fingers.

"So, these bodies were all stabbed by your same knife in the same way, the only thing different is they were all frozen afterwards, and I couldn't get an id on them either. The fingerprints were not good ones and there are no dental records on them," Doctor Morales explained, looking at Sharon as she looked over the one victim.

"Doctor, this looks like a child," she stated. "I believe you are correct, but the other two are adults," Doctor Morales mentioned and Andy shook his head. "Bastered," Andy gritted his teeth as he looked over the bodies on the tables.

"I hope you do catch them," Doctor Morales added as he walked all three of them out of the room. "Here is a set of pictures I had Kendall take of the bodies for your board and other pictures to help your investigation," he handed a file folder to Sharon.

"Oh, Doctor, one more thing before we leave. Any similarities between these bodies and others that may have crossed your path or other coroners?" Sharon asked him. "I'm not sure but I will look in our system and get back to you," Doctor Morales stated and then walked down the hallway to his office.

They all removed their gowns that they had worn and placed them in the trash bin. "Lieutenant Provenza please find out more information on our two victims, next of kin, you know," Sharon told him as they walked towards the elevator.

"Andy, please find out if anyone has bought an ice chest or freezer, something where you can store bodies in," Sharon told him. "I'll figure out a search for that," he told her as they stepped back inside the elevator and the doors closed.

Meanwhile, back at Jeffrey's house, he was still sitting in front of his computer, reading about the Major Crimes division. "So, that lovely lady must be Commander Sharon Flynn," he said as he looked at her picture online of the hierarchy of the LAPD.

He ate some potato chips as he kept scrolling through his search. He decided he had enough information for one now and decided to go back downstairs to continue his work. He made his way down the basement and over to his workbench. Plugging in the sawdering iron and placing the goggles over his eyes, he continued to work on his metal box. A hobby that he tinkered with when he wasn't at work or looking for a new victim or victims as the case was yesterday.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

It was now closer to 11 in the morning and Emily would soon be leaving for the theater. She had been up since she heard Matthew turn on the TV downstairs and her alarm went off shortly after that. She had gotten herself ready before going downstairs and finding Matthew in the family room watching cartoons.

"Good morning Matthew," she walked over to him and sat on the couch. He stretched his arms above his head. "Hi," he said to her as he kept on watching the TV. "Did you eat already?" she asked him. "Yes," he nodded and glanced at her. "You do know that Mom and Andy are at work?" she asked and he nodded again. "Mom left me a note on the kitchen table," he mumbled as he watched Batman catch the Joker again on TV.

"Okay, well Rusty is coming over to stay with you when I leave soon," she got up off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "Do you have homework to do?" she called out to him as she fixed herself something to eat. "No," he replied and kept watching the TV.

Just then the back door opened and Rusty stepped into the house. He walked into the kitchen and saw Emily sitting at the kitchen table. "Hey, good morning," he told her as he placed his messenger bag on the cleared area of the table. "Morning Rusty," she smiled, getting up from the table and placed her bowl in the sink.

"Matthew is in the family room watching some Batman cartoon. He already ate breakfast and I'm assuming he fed Moxie since it's almost after noon," she moved around the kitchen, putting things away. She paused a moment before she asked Rusty another question.

"You didn't by any chance send me flowers to my dressing room at the theater yesterday, did you?" she asked. "Ah, no. Why?" Rusty wondered. "I got some flowers yesterday but I don't know who they are from," she told him. They both stayed in the kitchen for a while before Emily left and Rusty moved to the family room to let Matthew know he was there.

Meanwhile, back at the PAB, Buzz was placing the pictures that they had received from Doctor Morales on the Murder Board. Amy was typing on her computer and Julio was on the phone at his desk. Mike was in Sharon's office along with Provenza and Andy. They were discussing the final report from the fire department.

"So, the fire department says that the "O" ring that I pointed out to you Commander, was faulty, looking like it was deliberately smashed so that natural gas could escape. And, they ruled a tiny explosion happened to start the fire. Whoever did this could know something about stoves, how they work, and even know how to start a fire to make it look like an accident at first," Mike stated and then glanced over at Andy before looking at Sharon again.

"You know, Commander, that we have a fire bug of our own that keeps showing his face every now and then," Provenza added and Andy gave him a glare before he looked down at his feet. "I trust Andy's judgement that Croelick isn't involved in this, so let's move on," Sharon stated and then looked down at some paperwork on her desk.

Provenza looked at Andy and then at Mike before returning his glance to Sharon.

"Did we get anything back from ViCAP yet?" Sharon asked her Lieutenants. "I believe Julio did get a response from them," Mike said as he glanced over his shoulder at Julio, who was now off the phone. "Maybe that will give us a little luck in finding who's behind this vicious act," Sharon said and stood up from her chair and made her way out of her office. Her Lieutenants followed her and they all gathered around the Murder Board to see what Julio had discovered.

"Okay, Ma'am, I was able to get a hold of Special Agent Richards who works in ViCAP and she stated that there was a mention of the same type of killings in New York City and also in Rapid City, South Dakota, but once the locals started the investigation into the killings, the case went cold, and they thought the perpetrator left town," Julio informed them as he placed the information on the board.

"How long ago were the killings in New York City and Rapid City, South Dakota?" Sharon asked. "Well, there's the thing. The killings in New York City were discovered in 1999, and the ones in Rapid City were from 2002," Julio answered Sharon and sat down at his desk again.

"So, we could be dealing with a copycat?" Amy suggested. "Or the same person but that's quite the timeframe for the killings," Mike added. Julio clicked on his email as he noted that there was another message from ViCAP. He read it and then interrupted the discussion.

"Um, Ma'am, Lieutenants, I just got another message from Special Agent Richards and, after doing further research, she discovered that the NYPD caught their guy five years ago, through DNA that was left at the crime scene," Julio explained.

"Okay, that leaves Rapid City, South Dakota in the mix still," Andy pointed to the board and then crossed his arms as he leaned up against a desk. "Detective, can you please contact the Rapid City Police Department and try to find out if they have any information regarding that case, please?" Sharon directed that towards Julio.

"In the meantime, where are we on the financials of the Millers?" she asked and Amy stood up and walked over to the board. "There was nothing out of the ordinary with the Millers financials. They didn't have any debt, their mortgage was paid off, and their credit cards were paid off every month from charges," Amy explained.

"Doctor Morales said that the husband was in the Navy, retired, could it be that maybe this was a personal thing? Perhaps he crossed someone while he was serving and that person got revenge?" Provenza suggested.

"That's plausible Lieutenant, but, how do you explain the other three bodies that were discovered at the house as well?" Sharon asked as she looked at Provenza. Provenza shrugged his shoulders and glanced around the room.

"Did the Millers have any children?" Sharon asked. "No, they did not," Provenza answered as he looked at a report on his desk. "No children, Mr. Miller was an only child, so was Mrs. Miller, and no next of kin," Provenza added as he looked up at Sharon.

Just then, Chief Mason walked into the Murder Room and saw the Major Crimes team hard at work. "Commander, may I see you in your office?" he asked Sharon. Sharon looked around at her team before leading the way with Mason following her into her office. Mason closed the door behind him and Sharon sat down at her desk.

"What can I do for you, Chief?" Sharon asked as she studied his face. "Where are you on this case?" he asked her as he sat down across from her. "Well, we have the cause of the fire, and also the autopsies of the bodies discovered, we are working on a few other leads, why?" she informed him and asked.

"I need your team to pack it up for the day and continue tomorrow on regular time," Mason informed her. "What?!" Sharon exclaimed as she was shocked when she heard that. "There's no overtime in the budget anymore for your team to be here on a Sunday, so I need you to pack it up and start again tomorrow," Mason explained to her.

Andy and Provenza looked towards Sharon's office and wondered what Chief Mason was telling Sharon that would cause a sudden outburst from her.

"Sir, with all do respect, Chief of Police Pope assigned this case to us, now he knew we were not on call this weekend but he gave us this case anyway. I don't understand that now, there's no more overtime in the budget?" Sharon stood her ground.

Chief Mason smiled. "I always admired your tenacity when it came to your team, but my hands are tied on this," he told her and stood up from his chair. "Pack it up and start again tomorrow, that's an order," he simply told her and she looked at him as he left her office.

She shook her head as she stood up and walked back over to her team. Sharon took a deep breath before she addressed them. "Apparently we are having budget problems with overtime and I was ordered by Chief Mason to send you all home, and we will resume this investigation tomorrow," Sharon informed them.

"This is all the Pope's fault! He did this on purpose to ruin our day off and then send us home after we already started the investigation!" Provenza was mad and it showed as he stood up at his desk.

"We are all upset about this but there's nothing I can do right now," Sharon informed him and looked at the Murder Board. "Alright everyone, let's pack it up and come back tomorrow," Provenza stated and threw his arms up.

Sharon returned to her office after a majority of her team left. Provenza waved at Andy. "See you tomorrow," he grumbled and walked out of the office. Andy acknowledged his friend and turned to watch Sharon in her office. She was gathering her things, stuffing her laptop and other paperwork in her bag.

He knew something was off about the whole overtime budget thing. It didn't make sense that Pope would call them all in on a Sunday, when they weren't on call, and then have Mason come during the middle of the day and send everyone home? No, something didn't sit right with Andy on that.

Sharon walked out of her office and looked at Andy, who was on his phone. "Yeah Clint, thanks," Andy said and quickly hung up his phone when he realized Sharon was standing outside her office.

"Clint?" she asked as the two of them walked towards the elevators. "Yeah, well something's not sitting right with this whole overtime budget so I thought I would call him," Andy said as he pushed the button to call the elevator.

Sharon shook her head as she stepped inside. She didn't mind that Andy had all of these contacts throughout the department. It was very helpful sometimes to get information that she even couldn't get but other times, it was too much and felt like Andy was protecting her by pulling a few strings.

"Andy, you know I appreciate everything that you do, but if you keep calling your friend in Operations, it's going to look like you are pulling strings for my benefit, and that will get the attention of Winnie Davis," Sharon told him, almost scolding him in a way.

"Funny you should mention Winnie Davis, because that's who closed the overtime budget for us today," Andy informed her as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage. "No," Sharon slowly said as they walked out to the garage. "Yep, she did," Andy nodded.

Sharon stopped in her tracks and couldn't believe it. Winnie Davis would compromise an investigation because she didn't want Major Crimes to get overtime on a Sunday? Andy stopped as well when he saw Sharon stop in the middle of the parking garage aisle. He quickly grabbed her hand and led her to their car.

"Sharon, I know what you're thinking and as much as I would like to see you take down Winnie Davis for good," Andy started to talk but Sharon stopped him. "You're right," she said and reached for where his tie would normally be, and they started to walk again.

Andy was taken back by how quickly Sharon stated that he was right. He didn't know what he was right about but was glad that they made it to their car without any further delay in the parking garage. He opened the door for her and she slid inside the passenger seat. Closing the door, he made his way around to the driver's side and then started the car. He glanced over at Sharon who seemed deep in thought. He took a deep breath and then pulled out of the spot and headed home.

When they arrived home, Sharon got out of the car, not waiting for Andy and immediately walked towards the back door. Andy watched her and thought that with everything that happened from the early morning call out to the case and being told to go home due to overtime money, he knew she just had to blow off some steam.

He ended up being a few steps behind her as he entered the house. He heard her say something to Rusty who was in the kitchen making a snack for Matthew and saw her make her way up the stairs. Andy stopped and looked at Rusty, who was looking like a dear in the headlights, and he scratched his head.

"Bad day I take it?" Rusty asked as he placed the apple pieces on a plate. "Yeah, you could say that," Andy sighed and he took one piece of the apple and ate it. Rusty was confused as he watched Andy go about the kitchen, non-chalantly.

"Aren't you going to go up after her?" he asked, wondering why Andy was still in front of him in the kitchen and not following Sharon upstairs. "She needs to let off some steam or something like that, don't worry. I'll check on her in a few minutes," he took another piece of apple.

Matthew came into the kitchen to see what was going on. "Daddy, you're home!" he said, happily as he took the plate from Rusty and sat down at the kitchen table. "Yes, we're back home, kiddo," Andy said to him and then took another piece of the apple that was sliced. "Hey!" Matthew said as he ate a piece too.

Matthew looked around the kitchen. "Is Mom home too?" he asked in wonder. "Yes, but she went upstairs," Andy told him.

Meanwhile, Sharon was in their bedroom and couldn't get the images of those bodies out of her head. She decided with everything that had gone down that she was going to take a nice, relaxing bath to ease the tension from her body. She started to fill the bathtub and placed the jasmine scented bubble bath in the water. She then watched the tub fill and started to get herself undressed.

Andy was moving around the kitchen looking for a corkscrew. Finding it in the dishrack in the sink, he picked it up and went to the refrigerator. Pulling out an unopened bottle of wine, he closed the door and placed the wine on the counter.

Rusty saw this and started to protest. "Um, Andy, I don't think drinking is the answer to the bad day you and Mom had at work," Rusty demanded that Andy stop right away. "Don't worry kid, it's not for me, it's for your Mom," Andy nodded as he poured Sharon a glass of her favorite wine.

"Oh, sorry I jumped to that conclusion," Rusty apologized. "Not a problem. Besides, wine was never my drink of choice so don't worry," he winked at Rusty and turned around, stopping before heading towards the stairs.

"Do you think you can still stick around and watch Matthew for a little bit longer?" Andy asked Rusty. "Ah, yeah, sure, no problem," Rusty nodded and went to sit down at the kitchen table. He pulled out his laptop and a book that he was reading.

Andy headed upstairs. He could hear the water running so he knew Sharon was taking a bath. He made his way into their room, careful not to spill the wine as he did. He saw the bathroom door was closed so he knocked on it before opening it slightly.

"I come bearing a gift," he quietly said as he made his way slowly into the bathroom. Sharon was already in the tub, stretched out in the bubbles with her eyes closed. Andy took a deep breath and smelled the jasmine bubble bath, one of his favorites.

He knelt down besides the tub and Sharon opened her eyes, seeing the glass of wine he was holding. She smiled. "I love you," she said as she took the glass of wine from him. Before she could take a sip, she quickly kissed him. "I know," he told her and stood up, watching her in the tub. She took a sip of the wine and smiled. "My favorite," she said and placed it on the side of the tub.

"Do you want some company or do you want to be by yourself?" he shyly asked her as he stood there. She hummed and thought about it. "Well, I do always enjoy your company," she told him and smiled. He had the biggest grin on his face as he got undressed and joined her in the bathtub.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

It was now Sunday evening, Sharon had relaxed in the tub and Andy had joined her. Andy had made everyone dinner. Rusty had to go out for a study group for one of his classes and had left right after dinner was finished. Sharon retreated to the den and Matthew had asked Andy if he could watch a movie with him.

As Sharon was in the den, sitting at her desk, working on her computer, she could hear blast noises coming from the family room. She shook her head as she heard the TV being turned down. "I hope that's appropriate for him!" she called out to Andy as she continued to work on their budget for next year.

"It's _Return of the Jedi_!" Andy called out to her as they watched the rescue scene of Han Solo. Andy smiled at Matthew as they both watched the movie. As he sat there, he couldn't help but think to the bodies that were discovered in that house. The child's body that was frozen. They couldn't ID them and he wondered who they were.

Matthew leaned in closer to Andy. "Did you catch the bad guy yet?" he asked him as he made room for Moxie to be on the couch with them. "Ah, no, Matthew. Not yet," he muttered to him as they watched the movie.

As Sharon moved figures around on the screen, something was bothering her about their latest case. The fact that they had three unidentified bodies that were frozen, coupled with the fact that there was no reason that they could find so far, for the murders of the Millers, and that they were sent home early today after being called out on their day off, there were too many variables for her liking.

Her mind went back to her relaxing time in the tub and how Andy tried desperately to get her to forget about everything, just for a moment. She smiled at that memory and went back to the task at hand, trying to cut the budget without affecting her team.

She knew Winnie Davis was a stickler for the overtime budget and money being allocated to different departments and she really wasn't surprised when Andy said that she had something to do with them being cut early this afternoon.

An hour had passed but Sharon wasn't keeping track as she looked over some information relating to their case. Andy walked into the den and stood behind Sharon. He placed his hands on her shoulder, intending to give her a massage, but startled her instead.

"Andy, sorry, I didn't hear you come in," she told him. "I gathered by how high you jumped out of your chair," he teased her and she shook her head. He moved to stand next to her and grabbed her left hand. He played with her ring on her finger and she finally looked up at him.

"The movie is done, I told Matthew to go upstairs and get himself ready for bed," he told her and smiled. She glanced at the clock in the room and noticed it was already 9:30. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand. "Okay," she whispered.

"Looks like someone else should be ready for bed," he smiled and watched her stifle a yawn. "Hmm, yes, perhaps," she shrugged her shoulders and stood up from her desk. She wrapped her arms around his mid-section and he returned her hug.

"What are we going to do with Matthew this week?" Andy asked her as he held her. "Oh my gosh," Sharon said and pulled away to look at him. "I completely forgot about that," she added. "I'm assuming you are also going to cancel your leave that you had coming up this week because of the case, right?" he continued as they both stood there in the den.

Sharon rubbed her head with her hand and moved away from Andy. "Yes, of course. Ricky is supposed to be coming down here on Wednesday this week," she told him. "Well, I hope he's still coming down. He could watch Matthew those days, I mean, we can ask him to watch Matthew," Andy suggested.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be willing to do that. We just need to figure out tomorrow and Tuesday," Sharon bit her lip as she looked at Andy. Andy smiled at her. "Listen, babe, everything is going to work out, okay?" he told her and kissed her forehead.

"Close up here, I'm going to check on the house and then we will head upstairs together," he gave her a wink and let go of her hand as he walked away. She turned around and glanced over the computer screen one more time before closing it and turning off the light. She waited in the hallway for Andy to come back.

Meanwhile, Emily had arrived home from her ballet performance. Andy saw her pull up in the driveway as he was moving through the kitchen and waited for her at the back door. "Hey Emily, how was your performance tonight?" he asked her as she walked through the door. "Oh, it went well," she smiled and moved into the kitchen.

"Hey Mom," Emily said as Sharon made her way into the kitchen to greet her daughter. "Hi sweetheart," she gave her a hug. She began to tell her about the afternoon performance and how the evening one went. "I am beat," she told her mom as she started heading towards the stairs. "Night Mom, Night Andy," she called to them as she went upstairs.

"Night," Sharon called back to her daughter and turned around to face Andy. "Everything is locked up and looks like everyone is home, safe and sound," Andy smiled and placed his arm around Sharon's shoulder as they walked to the stairs.

Rusty had come home around 9 o'clock and had texted both Andy and Sharon that he was home. Andy was the only one who responded to him as Sharon had been in deep thought over her computer at that time.

As they both got to the top of the stairs, Matthew was already dressed in his pajamas and he was running from the hallway bathroom to his bedroom. Moxie chased him into his room. Sharon and Andy both went into Matthew's room and he was sitting on his bed, with the covers around him.

"I see you are all ready for bed," Sharon told him and he nodded. She sat on the edge of his bed and hugged him tightly but not too tight. Images of the frozen body of the child flashed through her mind as she hugged Matthew. She kissed the side of his head. "I love you," she told him. "Love you too, Mom," he muttered as she let go.

Before she stood up she told him that he was going to go with them to work tomorrow. "Really?" he asked and Sharon nodded. "And I get to hang out with Uncle Louie?" he excitedly said which made Andy laugh. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be happy too," Andy chuckled as Sharon stood up and Andy held onto her hand.

"Good night kiddo," Andy said to him and tousled his hair. Matthew giggled when he did that. "Love you," Andy told him. "Love you too, Dad," he said and laid down on the bed, getting the covers just perfect as Moxie settled on the bed as well.

Andy closed the door to his room behind them as they stepped into the hallway. Sharon looked down the hallway and saw Emily's door was closed. "I'll be right there," she told Andy and he nodded, heading into their room himself as she went down the hallway to say good night to Emily again.

Sharon knocked on Emily's door and heard her say "Come in". She opened it slightly to see Emily laying in bed, with her iPad. "Don't stay up too late binge watching," Sharon smiled and waved to her daughter. "Good night Mom," Emily smiled and Sharon closed her door.

She made her way down the hallway and into their bedroom. Andy was in the bathroom getting himself ready for bed. She went towards the closet and started undressing herself in there, putting on her pajamas and waited for Andy to be finished in the bathroom before she went in there herself to get ready.

Andy opened the bathroom door and saw Sharon was waiting for him. He moved to the side of the doorway and allowed Sharon to walk in. He stood there watching her as she went about her nightly routine. She saw him in the corner of her eye, watching her. "Yes?" she said as she continued getting herself ready.

"Nothing, I just like watching you," he grinned and she smiled, shaking her head. "You know if I wasn't married to you, that would sound a little creepy, almost like stalking," she told him as she brushed her teeth. "Hmm, well good thing you did marry me, otherwise it would look pretty bad if I got in trouble for stalking the Commander," he walked over to her just as she was spitting into the sink. She wiped her mouth before he pulled her into a kiss.

"I love you, so much, Andy," she told him as they lay in bed together. She shifted in his arms and rested her head on his chest, draping a leg over his leg. "I love you too, honey," he whispered to her as he kissed the top of her head. "Hold me close," she whispered to him. "That's my plan," he said and they drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, their alarm woke Andy up early, which made Andy groan as he carefully maneuvered his body as to not disturb Sharon who seemed to still be sleeping. She rolled over and saw Andy getting up off the bed. He looked at her and how inviting she looked and he wanted to just crawl back into bed and lay with her for hours.

"What time is it?" she asked which broke Andy's concentration on her. "5:30, I turned the alarm off," he told her, watching her stand up from their bed and stretched her arms over her head. "You're killing me here," he mentioned as he watched her turn around and face him.

Giving him her soft smile, she made her way towards the bathroom. He sighed as he stood there. He rubbed his hands over his face. He didn't think Sharon knew just how much she turned him on with all of her little mannerisms. He shook his head because he needed to get himself ready for the day, he could fantasize about Sharon later. He walked into their closet and decided on what suit to wear today.

Sharon stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and quickly made her way to their closet when she bumped into Andy. "Sorry," they both muttered and looked into each other's eyes. Andy could see the goosebumps starting to form on Sharon's arms as she held the towel against her body.

"You're cold," he whispered as he moved to the side to let her in. "We're going to be late if you keep looking at me like that," she teased him as she went to her side of the closet, looking for something to wear.

"Oh, I'm going to make you late, huh?" Andy teased back. She shook her head as he left and headed towards the bathroom. He needed to shave his face after forgoing yesterday morning. He looked at himself in the mirror and applied the shaving cream.

After Andy had gotten himself ready, placing his holster and handcuffs on his belt, he clipped his badge on the front of his belt and made his way to their bathroom, sticking his head inside as Sharon was getting dressed. "I'm going to wake Matthew up," he smiled and gave her a wink.

Sharon stopped what she was doing and smiled at him. "Okay," she told him and continued fixing her hair. She loved being in the bathroom after Andy shaves because it smells like him, especially when he uses the aftershave she bought him. She shook those thoughts out of her head before they distracted her even more.

Andy stepped across the hallway and over to Matthew's bedroom. The door was open and the light was on. He could see Moxie still laying on the bed as he made his way over. He stopped for a moment and saw that Matthew was standing in front of his closet, attempting to tie his tie.

Andy was a little taken back by the fact that Matthew was wearing his nice suit and decided to knock on the wall to not startle the kid. "Morning, let me help you with that," Andy told him, knelt down on his knee, and started to help him with his tie. "There you go," he said after tying it. He looked at Matthew for a brief second.

"Can I ask you why you're wearing your nice suit to go to our work today?" Andy asked him as he stood back up and helped Matthew with his suit jacket. "I wanted to blend in with everyone there," Matthew replied as he pulled on the lapels of his suit jacket.

"Okay," Andy chuckled and moved to his closet. "How bout we also bring a change of clothes just in case, okay?" he suggested and Matthew agreed. As he packed his backpack with the change of clothes and other things he would need while spending the day there, Andy asked him another question.

"Does your mother know you are wearing your nice suit to the office?" he asked and Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen her this morning to tell her," he told him, placing the backpack on his shoulder.

"Now I look like you, Dad," he smiled which made Andy smile too. "That you do kid," Andy said and they both walked out of the room.

Just as they stepped into the hallway, Sharon stepped out of their room and saw them both standing in the hallway. She was surprised to see Matthew wearing his nice suit and gave a questioning look at Andy.

"My two handsome boys, look at you," Sharon smiled and walked closer to them. "How come you're wearing your suit today?" she asked Matthew. "Cause I wanted to match everyone else in the office, plus now I look like Dad," he said with a proud smile, which made Sharon smile even more. "Well, you certainly look the part," she told him and they all went downstairs.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

They pulled into the parking garage of the PAB and right away, Sharon's phone was ringing. She pulled her phone out of her purse and saw it was Chief Pope calling. She groaned and showed Andy who was calling before she answered it. "Commander Flynn," she stated as she waited for Pope to respond.

"I'll never get used to you answering your phone like that," Pope said as he sat in his office. That comment was getting a little old to hear, especially from him as Sharon rolled her eyes. Andy and Matthew got out of the car and waited patiently for Sharon to be finished.

Andy could hear her distinct tone as she sat there on the phone with Pope. He smiled and thought back to when she was in charge of FID. She had used that similar tone with him after he had shown up drunk at a crime scene. That was over 30 years ago and now look at him. Married to Sharon, a father again to Matthew. Andy sighed as he looked down at Matthew who was currently leaning up against the car.

He saw movement from Sharon and he knew she ended her phone conversation. Andy opened Sharon's door and she stepped out of the car.

"What did his holiness want?" Andy asked as she straightened out her jacket and grabbed her things. "The usual apology for calling us on our day off, then the run-around, and now he wants a meeting in his office this morning at 9," Sharon informed him.

"What did you tell him?" he asked her as they walked together with Matthew in front on them. "I told him I was in the middle of the case and if he needed anything from Major Crimes he knows where to find me," Sharon said with a straight face as they approached the elevators.

Andy grinned as they all stepped into the elevator. Matthew pressed the button for the 9th floor. Andy turned to Sharon and kissed her on the cheek as the doors closed. "So, Matthew, are you excited to be at work with us?" Sharon asked her son as the elevator stopped at the first floor. "Yes, plus I brought some things to keep me busy," Matthew answered as the doors opened and people started to enter the same elevator.

Andy saw her before Sharon did and placed his arm around Sharon's waist, clearing his throat. Sharon looked up and saw Winnie Davis step inside the elevator and she quickly grabbed Matthew and put him to the side of her.

Winnie Davis glared at them as she turned around and the elevator filled with more people. "I didn't know it was bring your child to work day today," she stated and Sharon bit her lip. Andy gripped Sharon's hand and she squeezed it instead of giving a response to Winnie Davis.

The doors opened on the 3rd floor and Winnie stepped out, not before getting another remark off. "Oh, that's right, the Major Crimes Division can do whatever they want," she said and walked away as the doors closed again.

Some officers were looking at Sharon and others were minding their own business and got off their respective floors. The elevator stopped at the 9th floor and Matthew stepped off followed by Sharon and Andy.

They made their way towards the office and Andy opened the door for them and followed them in. Sharon saw Provenza as she made her way into her office. "Good Morning Lieutenant," she said as she passed him by.

"Morning Commander," he grumbled and looked up to see Matthew walking in with her followed by Andy. "Ah, Matthew, good morning," he said to him as he placed his crossword puzzle on his desk and sat up.

"Hi Uncle Louie," Matthew greeted him and walked over to his desk. "That's a nice suit you're wearing," Provenza commented on Matthew's attire. Matthew smiled and placed his backpack on the empty desk. Andy thought it was too close to the Murder Board for him and told him to move. "Matthew, go put your things over by my desk instead, that way you don't have to listen to Provenza grumble about being here," Andy chuckled and Matthew moved his backpack.

"Why is the kid wearing a suit?" Provenza asked Andy as Matthew walked away. "He wanted to match everyone in the office," Andy told him. Provenza gave him a look. "What? I think it's great!" Andy told him. "Ye gods, Flynn! Now your kid is matching the Commander and you!" Provenza threw up his hands and sat down at his desk.

"You know, he's been looking forward to hanging out with his Uncle Louie all day so if you could be nice about it," Andy informed Provenza as he walked to his desk. "I'm always nice!" Provenza stated and watched Andy and Matthew at Andy's desk.

The rest of the team filtered into the office and by 8 o'clock, everyone was there at their desks working hard to solve their latest crime. Sharon gave them a half hour to get settled before she wanted to meet with them.

"Matthew, can you come in my office?" Sharon asked him as he was standing by Provenza. Matthew looked at Provenza as he was explaining something to the kid. "Go ahead, the most important rule is listening to the boss, and in this case, that's your mom," Provenza nodded to Matthew and Matthew walked towards Sharon's office.

"You can hang out in here while I speak to the team about our case, okay?" Sharon told Matthew. "Okay," he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a few things out of his backpack and went into her office. He placed everything on her table and had a seat. Sharon closed the door and walked towards the Murder Board with Andy joining her.

"Okay, so where are we with the progress?" Sharon asked her team.

"I checked with local appliance repair businesses to see if they had sent any repairmen out to the address of the Millers, but so far, nothing," Mike stated. Sharon nodded and looked at Julio who rose his hand.

"I contacted the Rapid City Police Department, they did not have any information regarding those murders that took place in 2002," Julio stated and shuffled some papers around. "But, I don't think our killing is linked to the one that was there because Special Agent Richards was able to send me the crime photos from the case and the scene looks completely different," he continued.

"How so, Detective?" Sharon asked. Julio handed the pictures to her for her to see. "The bodies were not frozen and as you can see, the bodies were totally dismembered, ma'am," Julio said as Sharon looked and the past the pictures to Andy for him to look through.

Andy looked through the pictures and handed them to Provenza, who did the same and handed them to Mike. Mike stood up as he looked at them and walked over to Amy's desk so she could see them as well.

Just then Doctor Morales walked into the Murder Room. "Good Morning Commander!" he said as he placed his briefcase down on a desk. "Good Morning Doctor," Sharon said turning around to see him.

"I ran your murderer's M.O. in the coroner's system and I didn't come up with anything like we saw with the Millers but I did find out that there were frozen bodies discovered in Calexico," Doctor Morales stated and handed the report to Sharon.

She started to read it as the doctor summarized for the rest of the squad. "Basically, it says that authorities discovered several frozen bodies that were stabbed numerous times in a remote warehouse along the border. Border Patrol agents discovered it as they made routine checks. The bodies that were located in that warehouse were from Mexico, all had prior encounters crossing the border. Border Patrol, along with the coroner's office down there concluded that it was cartel," Doctor Morales finished.

"Well, I don't think the Millers here were murdered by the cartel," Provenza stated as he leaned back in his chair and pointed to the Murder Board. "I don't think so either, Lieutenant," Sharon agreed and handed the report to Provenza.

"Thank you, Doctor," Sharon turned to Doctor Morales as he closed his briefcase. "You're welcome and good luck everyone," Doctor Morales turned and left the room.

"Ma'am, this murder with the Millers and those other three bodies, that's not cartel like. The cartel would cut off their heads and burn their bodies," Julio looked at the pictures again on the board compared to the pictures that Doctor Morales brought.

"The ones at the border, yes that looks like cartel, they were trying to send a message. I bet you all those bodies found in the warehouse were former drug mules," Julio concluded and sat down at his desk.

"All right, let's get back on track with our killer at large here and focus on the Millers associates, who did they know, did they belong to any local organization?" Sharon got her team back on to focus on their case.

"Howard Miller was retired Navy, he belonged to the local VFW and American Legion groups. We should probably contact them to let them know, that way he can get a proper military burial, ma'am," Amy suggested and Sharon nodded in agreement.

"Patrice Miller didn't belong to any organizations but every Monday, a few housewives on the block where they lived would get together and play cards," Julio stated.

Sharon started to walk towards her office and peeked inside the window. She saw Matthew still sitting at the table watching a show on the iPad. She turned back around and took two steps before the door to the Murder Room opened again and this time Chief Pope along with Brenda walked into the room.

"Commander," Chief Pope stated sternly as he looked around the room at the rest of the team. "Chief Pope," Sharon acknowledged him and glanced at Andy. "Brenda, I have the files for you in my office, if you'd come with me, I'll get them for you and you can be out of here," Sharon said to her and she followed her to her office.

"Matthew, this is Brenda," Sharon made the introductions as she walked in and grabbed the files from the back of her desk. Brenda slightly waved at Matthew and Matthew returned her wave, getting back to his show.

"Here you are," Sharon handed the files to Brenda. "Thank you, Commander. I appreciate it," Brenda said, taking the files and followed Sharon out of the office. Sharon glanced to see where Chief Pope was and found him standing by the Murder Board, looking it over.

"Looks like you caught a bad one here judging by those pictures," Brenda said as Sharon walked her out of the office. Sharon smiled awkwardly as Brenda turned around and told her good luck.

Sharon took a deep breath before she walked back as she knew Chief Pope wasn't too happy with her defiance over the phone early.

"Commander, can I have a word with you in your office?" he asked her as she returned to the room. "Certainly," Sharon responded and walked back to her office. Opening the door, she turned to Matthew before Chief Pope followed her.

"Matthew, I need you to step out just for a minute or two because I need to have a meeting in here," Sharon asked him and he started to stand up from the table, pausing his video. "Okay," Matthew said and walked passed Chief Pope. "Hello!" Matthew said to him as he passed him by. "Uh, hello," Chief Pope stated and watched Matthew leave the room.

"You brought your son to the office today?" he questioned her as she sat down behind her desk. "He's on Christmas vacation from school, now I know you didn't come here to discuss parenting," she said as she watched him have a seat across from her.

"No, I didn't. I came here to discuss the current murder I assigned your team to," Chief Pope said as he looked at her. "Well, since we were cut short on our investigation yesterday, my team is trying to play catch up this morning," Sharon informed him as she folded her hands together on top of her desk.

"Yeah, about that, apparently there was a miscue on the budget and turned out there is enough money for overtime for your department," Pope sat there hoping that would smooth things over.

"Well, I would say that's hell of a miscue during an investigation," Sharon responded and Pope nodded in agreement. "It's already been addressed," he assured her. She nodded and thought that's maybe why Winnie Davis was so cold in the elevator, but then concluded she's always like that.

"So, Chief Pope, why did you call my team on their off day for this murder investigation?" Sharon asked him as they sat there.

Meanwhile, Matthew was sitting by Andy's desk, looking through his backpack for something. He took off his suit jacket and placed it behind his chair like his father's was. "Who's that guy in Mom's office?" he asked.

"That's the Chief of Police," Andy answered him as he worked on his computer. He was trying to figure out if there were any recent or unusual purchases of freezer chests in the area. Matthew walked over to him and looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Matthew asked him.

Andy leaned back in his chair and looked at Matthew. "Something for this case," Andy gave a simple answer as he patted Matthew's back. He knew his son was bored but there was nothing he could do. Sharon was still in her office with Chief Pope and so was the iPad that Matthew was watching.

"Why are you looking up freezers?" Matthew asked him. "Uh, well," Andy started to explain but didn't know how to tell Matthew that their latest case involved a killer and frozen, mutilated bodies. "The bad person we are looking for froze bodies," Andy told him.

"Oh, kind of like Mr. Freeze," Matthew innocently told him as he stood next to him. "Mr. Freeze?" Andy asked, wondering who Matthew was talking about. Matthew rolled his eyes. "Mr. Freeze, one of Batman's nemesis," Matthew answered.

"Mr. Freeze had a warehouse for a lab where he liked to freeze everything in containers," Matthew explained. "Batman keeps catching him and putting him in the Arkham Asylum where they have a special cell for him," he continued as Andy listened.

Sharon's office door opened on the other side and Chief Pope walked out. "Keep up the good work," he said and waved as he walked out of the Murder Room. "Well what the heck was that all about?" Provenza waited until Chief Pope left before he mumbled that.

Sharon walked over to Andy's desk and placed her hand on Matthew's shoulder. "You can go back to my office if you want to finish your video you're watching," she smiled. "Okay," Matthew went back into her office and sat down at the table.

"Any new information while I was speaking with Chief Pope?" Sharon asked her team. "No, but why was he here?" Provenza boldly asked her as he sat at his desk.

"He wanted to know about this case and to also apologize for calling us out on our day off," Sharon told them, clasping her hands together as she stood to the side of Andy's desk. Andy knew that Sharon was holding something back from the team, he could tell by her body language. He wasn't going to push it now but he would ask her when they were alone.

"Did we run a check on any associates, neighbors of the Millers, maybe concentrating on anyone with a previous criminal history?" Sharon asked and suggested at the same time. Julio, Mike, and Amy quickly typed away on their computers.

"Some of their neighbors do have criminal records, but they're all misdemeanors, personal-use controlled substances, shoplifting," Julio stated. "All model citizens," Andy chimed in, moving his chair out from his desk.

Sharon stared at the Murder Board. They needed a break in this case and they needed it soon.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

Jeffrey was in his small office, as he liked to think of it, as he refilled the yellow bucket with water and placed the mop inside the bucket. The kids were on winter break which meant he had all the time in the world to clean the school hallways. He moved the bucket, which was on wheels, and started to walk into the farthest hallway close to the gym.

"Oh, hello Mr. Kaminski," Mrs. Gottardo said as she came upon him in the hallway. "Principal Gottardo, I didn't think anyone was here this morning," Jeffrey stated as he stopped moping the floor and watched her. "Oh, don't mind me, I was just in my office for an hour and now I'm getting ready to leave," she told him as she stood there.

"Have a good holiday," he told her, awkwardly as he placed the mop back in the bucket and wringed the mop out. "You too," she told him and then left the area. Jeffrey then continued to mop the floor and finish his task. He had a few errands to run after he was done here cleaning the school and had to make a stop in the warehouse district.

After lunch in Sharon's office, Matthew was starting to get bored. He walked over to his mom who was sitting at her desk and stood next to her. "What are you doing?" he asked as he watched her work on her computer.

"Oh, well being in charge means that I have to create a budget for my team for money to spend next year," she explained to him. "No offense Mom, but that sounds boring," he huffed as he stood there. "Hmm, boring you say," she chuckled as she looked at her son.

"I see you loosened your tie," she pointed out to him. He looked down at it and then looked up at her. "Dad did the same thing earlier today so I thought I would do that too," he shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon closed her computer and looked at Matthew. "Are you bored?" she asked him and he fidgeted and nodded his head. "Okay, well, I take it you're done with your tv show," she said. "Yes," he mumbled. "Hmm, and it looks like Lieutenant Provenza and your dad just came back from being out," she stated as she looked out her window.

"Do you want to go see what they've been up too?" she asked him and he nodded. They both left her office and walked towards Provenza's desk. "Lieutenants, anything new?" Sharon asked and crossed her arms. Matthew looked at his mom and did the same thing as he watched her ask his dad and Provenza.

Andy looked at Matthew and smiled as he was trying to mimic what Sharon was doing. "Uh, yes we found out some new information but," Provenza started to say and then looked over at Matthew.

Sharon glanced down at Matthew and sighed. Even though she told him he could go with her and find out what they were up to, she now had to send him back into her office because she didn't want him to hear about the crime they were investigating.

"Matthew, I'm sorry honey but can you go back into my office?" she asked him and Matthew hung his head. "Fine," he mumbled and walked back into her office.

Sharon turned around to Andy and Provenza. Andy gave her a questioned look and she shrugged at him. "He's getting bored. I don't know what we are going to do with him tomorrow and the rest of the week," she told them both.

"We'll think of something," Andy informed her. Sharon nodded and then focused back on this case at hand. "Okay, so what did the two of you find out?" she asked them.

"Well, we went back to the house and took a look around the place with Mike again," Provenza informed her. "Anything else stand out?" she asked them. "We found a fingerprint," Andy told her. "Who does it belong to?" she asked, wondering if this was a break for them.

"We don't know yet, Mike is at the lab currently running it with the tech there. We couldn't get a could clean lift, or however Mike put it from where it was found," Provenza explained. "Okay, anything else?" she asked as they looked like they had more to say.

"Yeah, we uh, spoke to one of the neighbors again, they said that they saw someone lurking around the house the other day, and they are sitting with a sketch artist downstairs right now, so we'll see what we get," Andy told her.

She pursed her lips as she looked at the Murder Board. "What else aren't the two of you telling me?" she asked and turned around to look at them. They both had a guilty look on their face. "Morales called me while we were out, he told us that he made a mistake with the bodies that were frozen, and they were not from Mexico like he originally thought," Provenza told her.

Sharon looked at both of them, wondering where this was heading. "A missing person's report came out on a husband, wife, and a child from their daughter. She had come home from college and noticed that her parents and brother weren't home. She waited a while before calling the police," Andy stated.

"Okay, so was Morales able to make a positive id on the bodies then?" she asked them. "Yes, a Richard Gonzalez, his wife Martha, and their child William," Provenza read their names to her. "Missing persons is handling the daughter," Andy informed her. She nodded but that didn't reassure her for some reason.

"So, we're not looking at two homicides here, now were looking at five," Sharon concluded to them and they both nodded. Now that the other bodies were identified, maybe they would be able to link their killer to them. They just had to figure that out.

Across town, Jeffrey made his way towards the warehouse district. He pulled up to the cold storage freezer he was renting and made his way inside the building. There was a small office that had some of his things inside and then another room to the right of that. That room had plastic tarps laying on the floor and there was dried blood on some of the tarps.

He then made his way to the room that had the cold storage freezer and unlocked the door. As he opened the door, a blast of cold air came out and he stepped inside. To the left of the doorway were two bodies that were frozen. He walked over to them, admiring his handiwork and then turned to the ice chest on the other side of the wall.

He opened that and inside were frozen hands, arms, and the two fingers he took from poor Mrs. Miller. He closed the ice chest and then walked out of the cold storage, back into the warmth of the warehouse. He brushed off some of the ice that was starting to form on his jacket and then walked back towards the small office in the warehouse.

He picked up the phone in the office and dialed a number. "Hey, it's Jeffrey. Yeah, I'm at the warehouse and everything seems to be okay here so I'm not sure what alarm you're talking about," he told the other person over the phone.

He had gotten a voicemail stating that there was an alarm going off in the freezer area by the guy that owns the cold storage facility. Jeffrey hung up his phone and left the small office. He left the cold storage facility and headed home.

Back at the PAB, the team was running the background on the newly identified bodies when another visitor entered their office. Andy was the first to notice him. "Ricky!" he said, standing up to greet his step-son as he walked further into the office.

"Hey Andy," Ricky smiled and looked around the room. "I heard you and Mom caught a case and had brought Matthew here this morning," he told Andy, as he shook his hand. Andy nodded. "Yeah, I know your mother wanted to take this week off and spend time with everyone but," he sighed.

"Ricky, what are you doing here?" Sharon asked as she saw her son speaking with Andy. Ricky moved and gave his mother a hug. "I decided to drive down early and surprise you guys but then I spoke to Emily over the phone and she told me you had caught a case and Matthew was here with you," he paused for a second. "And let's face it Mom, it's kind of boring here if you're a kid," he continued.

He moved away from Sharon and looked at the rest of the team. Provenza was on the phone. Julio was speaking to Amy about something. "Anyway, from the look of things, it looks like you are both going to be here for a while so I thought I would stop here and pick up Matthew, hang out with him, you know," Ricky suggested.

"Oh, well I'm sure he'll be happy to see you," Sharon told him and all three of them entered Sharon's office again. "Matthew, look who stopped by to see you," Sharon told Matthew. He looked up from his book and saw Ricky standing there.

"Ricky!" he shouted with joy and got up to greet him. "Hey kid," Ricky replied when Matthew hugged him. "What do you say about busting out of this joint and heading home to hang out with your oldest brother?" Ricky asked him.

Matthew looked to Sharon and Andy and they both smiled at him. That was the encouragement he needed. "Yes, okay," Matthew replied and started to gather his things in his backpack. "So, don't worry about dinner, Mom, I'll stop on the way home or we'll go out and get something," Ricky assured her.

"No junk food," she told them both when Matthew reappeared in her office, ready to go. Andy spoke to Matthew while Sharon was talking with Ricky.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked Ricky. "Mom, of course, he's my little brother, and we had fun the last time I was here," Ricky told her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"Be good for your brother okay?" Andy told Matthew and slipped him a $20 bill. "Use this to pay for dinner tonight," he told Matthew and Matthew took it in his hand.

"Alright Matthew, let's go paint the town," Ricky joked and Sharon gave him a stern look. "Kidding, just kidding Mom," Ricky said and the two of them left her office. "Bye Matthew," Sharon called out to him as they walked behind the two.

Matthew waved to his mom and then stopped at Provenza's desk. "Night Uncle Louie," Matthew told him. "Oh, good night Matthew," Provenza stammered as he was thrown off by Matthew's gesture and waved to the kid as they walked out.

When Matthew and Ricky entered the hallway and made their way towards the elevators, Matthew showed Ricky the $20 bill that Andy had given him. "Dad gave me this for our dinner tonight," Matthew said as he pushed the button for the elevator. "He wanted to treat us," he added before Ricky could question anything.

"So how come you wore a suit today?" Ricky asked as the elevator doors closed. "I wanted to look like Dad and fit in with the rest of the team," Matthew told him as the elevator descended.

Meanwhile, in the Murder Room, the team came up with something interesting on the background of Richard Gonzalez. "Richard Gonzalez worked as a maintenance person for the local school district," Julio stated. "Hmm, so wouldn't you think the school district would have reported him missing when he didn't show up 2 months ago?" Provenza asked.

"Well, they would have if they hadn't let him go, about 2 months ago," Julio stated. "The school district had to release him because they switched to non-union personnel, it was a huge outrage in the school district," Julio explained more.

"By the time the decision was reversed, Richard had already been killed, along with his wife and son, who also attended the school were his dad worked," Julio continued.

"So then why didn't the school report the child missing?" Sharon asked. "Apparently the Gonzalez's pulled William out of the school when Richard was let go. They informed the school that they were moving," Julio answered.

"That whole scenario seems a little odd to me," Amy stated and Sharon turned around to look at her. "Why is that, Amy?" Sharon asked her. "Well, I get that the school changed to having non-union maintenance workers at the schools, but as soon as that happens, they pull the kid out of the school and then tell them that they are moving?" Amy reiterated what Julio had said.

"According to this, the Gonzalez's didn't put their home up for sale and they didn't tell their daughter about moving to another place either," Amy stated. "So, what was going on then?" Andy asked in general.

"None of this is making sense," Sharon stated as she looked at the board. "You expect it to make sense, Commander?" Provenza joked.

"Look, it's obvious these people have nothing in common to link them together," Provenza quickly pointed out. "What else did the daughter have to say about her parents?" he asked and Amy looked up the report on her computer.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. She stated that the last time she saw them was two months ago, via a phone conversation," she read the report. "So, she didn't think it was odd that they didn't keep in touch after that?" Provenza asked.

"What Provenza, do you think she had something to do with their murders?" Andy quickly asked him. "Well, she can't be ruled out!" he answered him and Andy shook his head.

"She can be when she was at college in Pennsylvania, sir," Julio pointed out to Provenza. "And, can corroborate that by her professors and roommates," Amy added and Provenza leaned back into his chair.

"Lieutenant, call Mike and ask him how much longer he's going to be at the lab," Sharon asked Provenza and he nodded, picking up his cell phone. "In the meantime, what are some ways to keep frozen bodies?" Sharon asked the rest of the team.

"In a freezer, ma'am," Julio blurted out. "Thank you, detective," Sharon quipped back. "How about a cold storage facility?" Andy suggested. "We saw it before in a previous case," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Wouldn't that be a little overkill Lieutenant, all that storage space for a couple of bodies?" Amy added. "Depends on how many bodies we're talking about," Sharon added as she looked at Andy and then at Amy.

"Maybe this guy has a freezer in his basement?" Julio added to the discussion.

Meanwhile, Provenza called Mike on his cell phone while sitting at his desk and listened to the ringing before Mike answered. "Yes Provenza?" Mike said as he was sitting on a stool in the lab. "Uh, the Commander wants to know your progress," Provenza told him.

"I'm still waiting on the technician to be able to get a good read on the print we lifted," Mike informed him. Provenza rolled his eyes and sighed. "Wait a minute," he heard Mike say and he waited.

"I think we got it Lieutenant Mike," Provenza heard the technician over the phone. Mike and the technician looked at the fingerprint up on the screen and high-fived each other.

"Provenza, we got it. Now I just have to run the print and see if it's in our system," Mike said over the phone. "Well, hopefully it is," Provenza said and waited. There was a long pause. "Are you coming back to the office to run it or are you staying there?" he asked him.

"I'm printing it out and I will return to the office to run it," Mike informed him. "Good see you then," Provenza said and hung up the phone.

"Commander, Mike was able to get a good print and he will be back soon to run it here," Provenza informed Sharon. "Finally, some good news hopefully," she said. Andy walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

She smiled slightly at him. "I want you to pursue the cold storage facility idea, find out how many are in the LA area and who owns them," Sharon told him and he nodded. "Sure," he gave her a small smile and then returned to his desk.

He sat down at his desk and started working on his research.

After an hour, Mike returned to the office. "Gee Mike! What took you so long?" Provenza, almost sounding like he was complaining. "Traffic!" Mike simply said as he made his way to his desk and sat down.

He logged onto his computer and opened up the program for running fingerprints. He scanned the fingerprint into the system and waited.

Sharon looked out of her office and saw Mike had returned. She walked out of her office and stood by Provenza's desk as they both looked in the direction of Mike. Mike watched his computer screen as it flashed every couple of seconds while the program ran its course.

"I don't know how long this is going to take, Commander," Mike said as he glanced over his glasses at Sharon. "Hopefully we won't be here all night," Provenza mumbled.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 7

As Ricky drove Matthew home, they stopped at a little restaurant for some Mexican take-out. Ricky placed the order after Matthew told him what he wanted. Matthew then handed over the $20 bill to pay the cashier and he received change from it. He placed the change in his pocket and walked over to the pick-up counter with Ricky.

"So, what's new little brother?" Ricky asked him as they waited for their food. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really," he responded. "How's school going?" Ricky asked. "It's okay," Matthew muttered. The guy behind the counter called their number and Ricky moved forward picking up the white paper bag with their food.

"Ready?" Ricky smiled as he handed the bag to Matthew for him to carry and they made their way out of the building and back to Ricky's car. Matthew got in the back seat and closed his door. Ricky got in the driver's side and started the car again.

"Did kids bully kids in your class when you went to school?" Matthew asked Ricky as they drove home. "Uh, yeah sometimes, why?" Ricky asked as he turned down the street where the house was located. "Some kids in my class started sending a letter around to everyone about another kid in my class," Matthew explained.

"Did you read it?" Ricky wondered as he pulled his car into the driveway and parked along the side so that when his mom and Andy came home, they would be able to pull their car into the garage. "No, I didn't see the letter but I heard about it," Matthew answered him as he got out of the car.

They both walked towards the back door and Ricky opened it, following Matthew inside the house. Moxie was waiting for them by the back door and followed Matthew into the kitchen. "I'm going to take him out," Matthew told Ricky as he placed the white paper bag with the food on the kitchen table and placed his backpack on the floor.

"Okay," Ricky said and he started to unpack the food bag.

Matthew took Moxie out into the backyard and the dog ran around the yard, sniffing everything and barking occasionally. Matthew heard other dogs in the neighborhood barking as well. Moxie did his business and Matthew brought him back inside the house.

Ricky was sitting down at the kitchen table, and placed Matthew's tacos on the plate. "Matthew?" Ricky called out to him as he heard the back door open and close. "Yeah?" he heard Matthew say and moved to the hallway to the kitchen.

Ricky looked at him. "Your tacos," he pointed out. Matthew nodded. "I'm just feeding Moxie," the kid smiled and went back to that task. Moxie was sitting while Matthew prepared his food. Placing the dry food in the bowl and adding some water to it, Matthew placed the bowl on the floor. Moxie looked at Matthew, waiting. "Okay," Matthew said and Moxie started to devour his food.

Matthew walked into the kitchen and sat down. "How long are you staying?" he asked Ricky as he started to eat. "Two weeks," Ricky said, chewing his food. "I'm off for two weeks too!" Matthew excitedly said.

"That means you'll be here for my birthday!" Matthew continued as they ate. "Have you thought about what you're getting Mom and Andy, uh your dad, for Christmas?" Ricky asked him. "Uh, I don't know?" Matthew hesitated before answering.

Meanwhile, back at the PAB, the team was gathered at their desks. Mike's program was still searching the fingerprint in the database. He sat at his desk, eating a piece of pizza that they ordered earlier.

Andy was at his desk, searching cold storage facilities on his computer as he took a few bites from his salad. The pizza they had ordered smelled really good. Andy glanced over his shoulder to see where Sharon was but he didn't see her in her office. He looked over to the pizza box on the empty desk.

'One piece won't hurt, right?' he thought to himself as he stood up from his desk and walked over to the box. He lifted the lid and looked inside. The first box lid he lifted was a meat lovers pizza. "I thought you don't eat meat?" Provenza stated from his chair.

"Not this stuff," Andy hissed back, closing the lid and moved over to the other pizza box. He lifted that lid and found a veggie lovers pizza, sitting there, waiting for him to eat a piece. He was just about to take a small piece when Sharon walked back into the room and saw him.

"Finished your salad?" she said standing right behind him which startled him and he dropped the piece of pizza back in the box. "I just wanted to see what types of pizzas were ordered," he smiled at her. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh, is that what you were doing?" she chuckled and smirked at the same time.

"I wanted to let you know that there are 20 different cold storage facilities in the Los Angeles area, 10 of them are near LAX, 2 are in the Valley, and the rest are near the Warehouse District, scattered around train tracks and the trucking areas," Andy informed her as she walked with him back towards his desk.

She smiled at him. "Good, hopefully we will either get the sketch from the sketch artist or Mike's fingerprint will come back soon," she cleared her throat, "so that we can have a name or at least some sort of identifiers when we call these places," she told him and he nodded.

"Well, the only problem is, some of these places are already closed for the evening, mostly they're open 7am to 7pm, and it's close to 7 now," Andy informed her as she glanced at her watch. Sharon wondered where the time had gone.

Sharon glanced over at Mike's desk and saw he was still sitting there waiting for a result from the fingerprint. "Hey Tao, are you sure that fingerprint program is up and working?" Julio asked him as he turned in his chair.

"I think so," Mike looked at his screen and still saw the progress bar moving. "I'm just saying it's been taking a long time," Julio added as he stood up from his desk and walked over to Mike.

Just then, the sketch artist came into the office and looked for Provenza. "Lieutenant, here is the sketch that I drew from what the witness had told me," she handed the paper over to him. "Thank you, Tracey, hopefully this helps," Provenza nodded and placed the paper on the Murder Board.

Provenza turned and waved Sharon over. She walked over to his desk and Andy followed her, joining them. "Here's our sketch," Provenza stated as they looked at the paper. Sharon folded her arms as she looked at the sketch.

"We'll run it through the DMV photos and see who matches up to it," Provenza told her as she stared into the eyes of the person. "Okay," Sharon nodded and turned her head to look at Andy. "What is it?" she asked him. "I don't know, I feel like I've seen this guy before," he answered as he looked at the picture.

"Where?" Provenza asked him. Andy shook his head. "I don't know," he stated and sighed as he scratched his head. The sketch artist drawing showed the guy wearing a baseball hat, light skin, with a stubby beard. The guy's ears pointed out from underneath the hat. They were staring at a sketch of Jeffrey, but they didn't know it yet.

"Dammit!" they all heard Mike and turned around to see what the matter was. He looked defeated as he sat, slumped in his chair. "No match in the database," Mike said as he took his glasses off and placed them on his desk. Julio looked at Sharon and walked back over to his desk, sitting down across from Amy, who was on the phone.

Sharon looked around at her team and she knew they needed to call it a night and start fresh in the morning. "Alright everyone, we're not getting any closer to this, so let's call it a night and return tomorrow, fresh and ready to go," she told them and walked back towards her office.

Andy stared at the sketch a little longer as everyone packed up. "Where have you seen him before?" mumbled Provenza as he watched his friend. "I don't know, but I know it was recent, I think," Andy shrugged his shoulders.

Provenza rolled his eyes at his friend as he patted him on his back. "Good night Flynn, take care of the Commander," Provenza told him in a lower voice so Sharon wouldn't hear the last part. Andy nodded at his friend and headed towards his desk.

"Andy?" Sharon startled him, again as he was deep in thought, when she walked out of her office with her things. "Sorry," he muttered as he looked at her. "Ready to go?" he asked and she nodded, taking his hand in hers and they walked out of the Murder Room.

As they made their way to the car, Andy had his arm around Sharon's waist. "What would you like when we get home?" he asked her as they walked. Sharon hummed as she thought about it. "I'd like to change into more comfortable clothing, my feet are killing me," she chuckled as they stopped and Andy opened her door for her.

As she sat down in the car, she slipped off her high-heeled shoes and placed them on the floor mat. "Perhaps a foot massage later?" Andy asked and she nodded in anticipation. He smiled and closed her door.

Making his way around the car, he couldn't help but wonder who that guy was in the sketch. He climbed in the driver's side and started the car. Sharon sought out his hand and she clasped it in hers, rubbing her thumb over his hand.

Andy took a deep breath as he drove the car out of the parking lot and onto the night streets of LA. The city was bustling with people as they pulled up to a red light before the entrance to the freeway.

"Where do you think you've seen him before?" Sharon said, breaking the somewhat silence since they left the parking garage. The light turned green and Andy started to drive onto the freeway. "I don't know," he sighed again, not knowing where he looked familiar from.

Sharon could tell this was going to bother him and the tension that she felt in his hand made her want to relax him when they got home. Oh, there were so many things she wanted to do when they finally got home after the long day.

This case was taking a toll on her team, that's why she decided to call it a night and resume tomorrow morning. After all, it was now after 8 o'clock, and there wasn't much they could do until they talked with those cold storage facilities tomorrow, maybe bring copies of the sketch with and see if, perchance, their person had rented a unit.

She looked out the window at the night lights as Andy exited the freeway and back onto the streets that would lead to their house. Somewhere out there was a serial killer, and Sharon hoped that he wasn't choosing another victim at this moment.

Across town, Jeffrey was sitting in his basement, tinkering with his metal project. On the wall next to him were a bunch of pictures scattered across. They were mostly of him when he was a little boy. Some with him and his parents. His dad in his Naval uniform, standing next to his mom and him.

That brought back a painful memory for Jeffrey as he looked at the next picture of the Millers with his parents. He felt betrayed by Howard Miller. He was his dad's best friend and when he passed, the Millers didn't even say anything to him or his mom.

He had found them several months ago, on accident, and they remembered him. He told them both of his parents passing and they gave him condolences, and stroke up a friendship again, but it was too much for Jeffrey to handle. He had gone on a murderous rage, taking the bodies and freezing them so that the police wouldn't be searching for the bodies. And then, last weekend, he had gotten into an argument with Howard Miller, his wife walked in on them, and Jeffrey turned into rage again, killing them both.

Jeffrey blinked and that memory disappeared and he got back to his metal project. He couldn't focus anymore and threw the metal pieces against the wall, which broke them apart. He sat there looking at them for a minute before standing up and walking towards the stairs to go up to the first floor.

He passed a box that had some miscellaneous items in it. He stopped and looked through it, pulling out a toy and on the bottom of the toy had the name "William" on it. He then placed the toy back in the box and looked at the other things contained inside. He pulled out a wallet and saw there were loose pictures inside.

He looked at one of the pictures and saw Richard and Martha Gonzalez, standing with their son William, along with another girl he did not know. He had met Richard at an AA meeting in Central Alameda a year ago. They got to talking about their problems.

Richard had come over one night and Jeffrey had shown him his workbench in the basement. They had gotten into a heated discussion regarding something that Richard had found and he tried to get away. Jeffrey stopped him and killed him in the basement.

He had then gone over to Richard's house to tell his wife something had happened to him, and he killed her and their son there. Jeffrey shook his head and went up the stairs. He headed into the kitchen and pulled out a beer, taking a swig of it, he walked into the living room and sat in front of the television.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Andy had arrived home and she was now in the family room sitting on the couch talking with Ricky. "So, how come you came down early?" she asked him. "Well, I actually wanted to surprise you, and I see that I did but unfortunately, you have a case," Ricky sat there looking at his mom.

"So, instead of having Matthew go with you to work tomorrow, I was thinking about taking him to the Zoo. The weather is supposed to be nice and I figured you wouldn't have to worry about him then," he was serious as he told Sharon but she gave him a skeptical look.

"Ricky, that's very nice of you to offer, are you sure you don't mind hanging out with your little brother all day?" Sharon asked, wondering if there was another motive for Ricky. "Why are you doubting me? I mean, can't I hang out with the kid?" he asked.

"Ricky, I seem to remember not too long ago that you protested my adoption of Rusty," she started to say and he was going to interrupt her but she held up her hand and he stopped. "I know last year was his first Christmas with us and we were all new to the idea of him staying here," she continued.

"Yes, I know Mom, and we tried to make him feel welcomed last year. This year I want to be able to do that, more on a brother to little brother level," Ricky explained and Sharon listened. "And, no offense Mom, but Rusty back then was different, Dad was butting in and I just felt like I had to look out for you," he continued and Sharon laughed.

"But now, we are once again a happy family. You're happy, Mom, and everyone else, Andy, Matthew, Rusty, Emily, me, we are all happy as well," he told her and she quickly brushed a tear away from her face. "Oh Ricky," Sharon started to say and then hugged him.

"Hey, how did Andy get that bruise on his face?" Ricky asked and Sharon looked at him. "From your father," she sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Really?" he was shocked. "Did it happen at Emily's performance?" he asked and she nodded. "After, when he went to pick up our coats," she told him the story of what happened.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

Matthew was playing in his room when Andy came up the stairs to find him. "Hey," he said as he walked into Matthew's room. He was playing with his Batman toys. "Hi! When did you and Mom get home?" Matthew asked as he put down his Batman figure and looked at Andy.

"Not too long ago," Andy said and sat down on the chair in his room. "What did you and Ricky have for dinner?" he asked him. "Tacos," Matthew said and continued to play. "Did you and Mommy solve your case yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet kiddo," Andy sighed and Matthew looked up at him. He grabbed a figurine and went over to where he sat. "This is Mr. Freeze," he told Andy and showed him the figure. "Did you find the freezer yet?" Matthew asked.

"Uh, we have some possibilities but we are going to check them out in the morning. And please, don't mention anything about that to your mom, okay?" Andy told him. "Okay," Matthew shrugged his shoulders and went back to playing. Andy sat there and watched him for a while.

Sharon made her way upstairs after talking with Ricky and found Andy in Matthew's room. "Hey Matthew," Sharon stepped into his room and made her way to where Andy was sitting. "Hi Mom," Matthew stood up and gave her a hug. "How are you doing?" she asked him. "I'm tired," he yawned as he went back to play with his toys.

Sharon continued her way to Andy and sat down on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. She wrapped her right arm around his shoulder and kissed the side of his head. She leaned her head on his and they watched Matthew together for a few minutes.

"Sweetie, Ricky is going to hang out with you tomorrow morning so Dad and I can go to work and hopefully solve our case soon," Sharon told Matthew as he picked up his toys and placed them in a bucket in his room.

"Yes, he's going to be here for two weeks!" Matthew said excitedly as he climbed into his bed. Matthew looked around his room. "Where's Moxie?" he asked, yawning again. "I'll bring him up if he doesn't come up soon, okay?" Andy told him as he and Sharon stood up from the chair and tucked Matthew in his bed.

"Good night Matthew," Sharon kissed his forehead as she placed the blankets over him. "Night buddy," Andy said and closed the door halfway as they walked out to the hallway.

Sharon sighed as she made her way across the hall to their room. "I'm going to see where Moxie is and then I'll come up here and give you your foot massage that I promised you," Andy whispered and stopped her from entering their room, grabbing her waist as he pulled her to him.

She reached up and captured his lips in hers, kissing him softly. "I'll be waiting," she whispered to him and retreated into their room, leaving Andy in the hallway.

He quickly made his way downstairs and went into the family room. He saw Ricky watching the TV and Moxie was sitting next to him as he was getting petted. "Sorry Andy, is the TV too loud?" Ricky asked as he grabbed the remote control.

"No, not at all. I was just looking for Moxie because Matthew was wondering where he was," Andy told him. "Oh, I didn't know the little squirt was in bed already," Ricky said and stopped petting Moxie. Moxie looked up at him and then at Andy. He climbed off the couch and started to go up the stairs.

"Hey, I'm sorry my Father hit you in the jaw," Ricky told him as he stood up from the couch and turned the TV off. "Oh, uh, yeah, believe me I wanted to deck your dad that night but it wasn't the right thing at that time, with your mother and Emily's performance," Andy trailed off.

"Don't worry Andy, there's been plenty of times I wanted to punch him as well," Ricky stated as he walked out of the family room towards the kitchen with his empty glass. Andy followed him. "I understand why you would want to, believe me, every time I see him, I want to do the same," Andy confessed to his step-son.

"Mom wouldn't appreciate that though, unless you were provoked," Ricky stated, placing the glass in the sink and turned around to face Andy. "Yeah, well he did throw the first punch and I punched him back, but before it could get uglier, Dean and Rusty stepped in and," Andy shook his head.

"Good night Andy, oh and I don't think I've ever told this to you, but I'm really glad that my mom is happy again. It's nice to see that and I'm glad you're the guy that brought that back to her," he said and went upstairs leaving Andy in the kitchen.

Andy knew Emily would probably be home in an hour. Rusty had checked in earlier on everyone when he had come home two hours ago. He stood there in the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. As he drank that he heard the water running upstairs. 'Sharon must be in the bathroom getting herself ready for bed' he thought to himself.

He thought about what Ricky had said to him, about how he was glad that Sharon was happy now. A lot had happened with their family in their first year of marriage. If he was honest with himself, he had brought that happiness to her before they were ever married, or officially dating. Back when she was in charge of FID.

Andy placed the now empty glass in the sink and left a few lights on for Emily when she got home. He headed upstairs to join Sharon. As he made his way up the stairs, he stopped in Matthew's room and saw that Moxie was now laying on Matthew's bed. He smiled and closed the door.

Ricky was in the other guest room and that door was closed. Andy went into their bedroom and saw Sharon was already sitting on their bed in her silk lavender robe. She always looked gorgeous as Andy stared at her. "Wow," he muttered as he came closer to her.

She smiled at him and scooted closer to the edge of the bed. "Are you ready for your foot massage?" he asked in low voice. She nodded and he turned to close the door. He moved to the bed and knelt down beside her legs, grabbing her left foot in his hands and started to massage her foot.

Sharon relaxed and leaned back into the pillows behind her. "That feels really nice," she told him. "Well, I'm happy to oblige, Commander," he told her, smiling as he did.

After Andy was satisfied with the foot massage he gave her, he started to get undressed and ready for bed. Sharon joined him in the bathroom and wrapped her arms around his waist as he faced the mirror. She ran her hands up and down his chest.

"Sharon," he said her name in a low, cracked voice as he closed his eyes. "You are so tense," she said, running her hands on his back now focusing on his shoulders and back. "You need to relax," she told him, whispering that to him as they stood there.

"Is it this case?" she asked as she continued to rub her hands on his back. Andy just stood there, trying to not get carried away as Sharon moved her hands. He turned around in her arms and she looked into his eyes.

"Is it a cumulation of everything that's been going on the past week?" she asked and he leaned down and captured her lips in a deepening kiss. He didn't answer, instead he backed her into their bedroom and guided her to their bed. Gently scooting her back, he continued to kiss her as he caressed her body with his hands.

She continued to kiss Andy as he caressed her body, leaving no skin untouched. She rolled him onto his back and straddled him. "You are so beautiful," he whispered as he looked up at her. "I love you," she told him and kissed him.

Early the next morning, Sharon woke up and reached her hand for Andy but only found cold sheets. "Andy?" she asked but no one answered. She glanced at the clock and it was 2:33 in the morning. She put her glasses on and got out of bed.

Wrapping her silk robe around her body, she made her way into the hallway and down the stairs in search of him. She checked the den and the family room but didn't find him in either room. She walked into the kitchen but he wasn't there either.

She noticed feeling cold air coming into the kitchen as she stood by the island and knew where he was. She made her way to the back door and noticed that it was slightly open. Usually that would alarm her but she saw the outside light was on and saw a figure sitting on the bench swing.

She saw a blanket folded up in the laundry area and grabbed that before she headed outside to sit with him. She opened the screen door and it creaked, announcing her presence to Andy but he didn't move. She walked around and joined him on the bench swing.

He saw she wrapped a blanket around her and knew she had woken up because he wasn't there providing heat to her body. "Did I wake you?" he asked her as he wrapped his left arm around her shoulders.

"I was cold when I woke up and reached for you, but you weren't there," she told him. "How long have you been out here?" she asked as she felt his hands. They were cold but he wasn't wearing anything more than a t-shirt and pajama pants. She couldn't understand how he could be comfortable like this on a cold December morning in LA while she was freezing and had a blanket wrapped around her.

"I don't know, maybe a half hour?" he grumbled as he held her close to him and warmed her. "What's wrong?" she asked him as she snuggled into his neck and shoulder. He sighed before responding to her.

"I know I've seen that guy before, but I can't remember where," he muttered. "Where have you been the past couple of weeks?" she asked, trying to help him remember. "The mall, Mathew's school, the PAB, the restaurant across the street, the ballet," he rambled off and Sharon moved her hand to the front of his chest.

Her hand was cold and it was seeking out the warmth from him so he moved his free hand and enveloped hers. "You're freezing, let's get you back inside," he muttered to her and started to get off the swing.

He helped her up and enveloped her in a hug. "I'm sorry I woke you," he whispered into her ear, which sent shivers down her body as he wrapped his arms tighter around her. They both walked back into the house and he closed the door, locking it and joined Sharon in the kitchen.

She was still wrapped in the blanket that she had grabbed and waited for him by the island. "Sit," she told him and gestured to the kitchen table. "I'll make you some tea or something first to warm you up," he offered but she shook her head no.

He sat down and she joined him, reaching across the table for his hand and ran her thumb over his knuckles. "Let's think methodically about this," she started to tell him and he nodded in agreement.

"That guy looks familiar to me," he muttered again as he looked at Sharon. "Okay, so who did you interact or see when we were at the mall?" she simply asked. "The sales clerk at the jewelry store, but that was a woman," he began to tell her.

"The barista guy at the coffee shop but he was younger than him," he added. "Right, I remember that guy, he looked to me to be in college," Sharon agreed with him and continued to rub his knuckles.

"Anyone else at the mall?" she asked and he thought about it before he told her no. "Andy, you only ran into two people at the mall?" she wondered as she looked at him. "What? I knew where I wanted to go to get you your present, and I waited for you at the coffee shop," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, how about at Matthew's school?" she asked, moving on to the next location. "Any of the parents or teachers?" she added. "No," Andy shook his head. "Walked in, saw Matthew and we walked out," he told her and paused for a moment. "The janitor was in the hallway, cleaning the floor, as we left," he thought back.

"The janitor?" she asked and he nodded. "Is that where you saw him?" she asked him to confirm. "I don't know," he answered her and she could tell he was just simply frustrated with this. "Okay, okay, sometimes they post school staff on their website, we could take a look and see," she suggested and stood up.

He followed her into the den and she turned on the computer and waited. "Sorry," he muttered into her hair as he took a deep breath. She closed her eyes as he did that and turned around in his arms to hug him. They stayed like that for a good minute or two before the computer was ready.

Andy opened his eyes and saw the computer screen was up and running so he cleared his throat and Sharon moved from his embrace and started to open the internet explorer icon. She typed in the address of the school's website and pressed enter.

She moved the mouse over to the school staff and clicked on it, which opened a new screen. She scrolled down past all the teachers to the staff. "Here we are," she said as she stopped scrolling. A different person's picture showed up under custodial staff. "That's not him," Andy stated. "But that's also not the janitor I saw that day," he added as he pointed to the picture on the computer screen.

"Well, both the school and the office are closed now for the break," Sharon sighed as she closed the laptop computer and turned to him. "Let's go to bed, I'm sorry we wasted time on this already," he told her and held out his hand for her.

She wrapped her arm through his as they walked back upstairs. "It's not wasting time if it will help us solve the case," she whispered to him as she didn't want to wake any of the kids. They made there way back into their room and he closed the door.

She took off her robe and draped it over the chair in the room as Andy watched her. She moved to the bed and climbed back in, under the covers. "Now, are you going to keep me warm until we have to get up for real?" she asked in a sultry voice. Andy swallowed as he joined her. "Yes ma'am," he smiled and climbed into bed, wrapping his arm around her side so that she was snuggled into him.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 9

Andy didn't get much sleep after they went to bed. And by the time he finally did seem to fall asleep, Sharon's alarm was waking them both up. Andy groaned as he felt Sharon shift towards her nightstand, where the alarm clock was located.

She turned around to look at him and gave him a sympathetic look. She felt sorry for him and reached her hand over to caress his face. "Morning," she leaned in and kissed him. "Morning," he muttered as they broke their kiss.

Sharon got out of bed and started to gather her things while Andy was still laying in bed. "Don't fall asleep again," she told him and he waved her off. She smiled and headed into the bathroom to get herself ready for the day.

Andy laid there staring up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Running his hand through his hair, he sat there for a moment before finally standing up. All of his muscles were aching as he stretched, and for whatever reason, his left shoulder was hurting him.

He chose to ignore the pain in the shoulder where he was shot months ago and walked into their closet. Running his hand over his face to wake him up, he looked through the many suits that were hanging up. He decided to go with his navy-blue pinstriped suit and light blue dress shirt. He turned around and grabbed a tie that matched.

While Sharon was in the shower, he moved into the bathroom and placed his clothes on the hook on the back of the door. The steam from the shower was causing the mirror to fog up as Andy was trying to shave his stubble on his face.

Sharon turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel. She saw he was standing at the sink, shaving and she smiled. She always enjoyed watching him shave. As the mirror started to clear up, Andy glanced up and saw Sharon watching him.

He gave her a small smile and she returned it, and moved closer to him. She walked over to the other sink next to him and she removed the towel from her hair. He finished up shaving his face and ran his hand over the smooth skin. He then wiped his face with a towel.

As Sharon was busy blow-drying her hair, Andy moved to take a shower. As he turned on the water, he got a zinger in his left shoulder and muttered a swear word under his breath. Sharon didn't hear him because of her hair dryer and he was thankful for that, otherwise she would be concerned again and he didn't need her to be.

The pain went away as quickly as it came as he stood underneath the shower spray. When he was done, he turned the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel from the rack and wrapping it around his waist. He took another towel and ran it over his head, drying his hair.

Sharon was almost fully dressed as she stood in front of the mirror when Andy stepped towards her. She was wearing a light blue dress shirt and black pants. "Thank you for saving some hot water for me," he muttered into her neck as he came up behind her.

She smiled and placed her hand on top of his arm as he held her. She patted his arm as he kissed her neck. "Hmm, you need to stop that or else we will be late for work and we have a busy day ahead of us," she told him and she could tell he was smiling in between the kisses on her neck.

He stopped and started to get himself ready for work as she went back to finishing getting ready herself. As he tucked in his dress shirt and pulled his suspenders over his shoulder, Sharon glanced at him and stopped. "It's been a while since you've worn that suit," she told him.

He knew about the day she was alluding to and thought of the irony with his shoulder pain coming back and him picking out the exact suit he wore when he got shot outside Travis Martin's house. "Yeah, well I thought it was time to bring this one out again," he shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon was done and walked over to where Andy was standing, tying his tie. "Allow me," she whispered and took the tie in her hands, tying it and moving the knot up to his neck, not too tight. She smoothed the tie down and looked at him.

He gave her his famous grin and she returned his smile with her own. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before he went back to their closet and placed his gun in his holster on his belt along with his handcuffs.

Sharon walked out into the hallway and headed towards Matthew's room. "You can let him sleep in," Ricky stood in the hallway and had startled Sharon. "Gee Mom, didn't mean to get you all jumpy!" he added as he watched her.

Sharon turned around and saw Ricky walking towards the hallway bathroom and she shook her head. "I just didn't realize you were up, that's all," she told him and he paused right outside the room. "What time are you guys heading to the zoo?" she asked and he shrugged his shoulders and went into the bathroom.

Andy stepped out of their room and joined her in the hallway. He gave her a look and she shook it off. "Ricky," she said and she went back to walking towards Matthew's room. She opened the door slightly and looked inside and saw Matthew was sleeping.

"Moxie," she whispered and the dog looked up from his sleeping position. "Come on boy," she told him and he got up and walked out of the room and down the stairs. Andy followed him and he let the dog outside in the backyard.

Ricky came out of the bathroom and decided to join his Mom and step-dad in the kitchen. Sharon was there making a pot of coffee for them and also cutting up some fruit while Andy was outside with Moxie still.

"Morning Mom," Ricky said and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Morning," she smiled as she continued to cut the fruit. Ricky took a piece of the melon, popping it in his mouth as he moved to the refrigerator to grab the milk.

"So, what's on the agenda for you and Andy at work today?" Ricky asked as he moved around the kitchen and sat down at one of the stools by the island. His question caught Sharon off guard and she looked at him, wondering why he was asking that.

"Uh, we're in the middle of a case, and," Sharon started to say to him, but was interrupted by the sound of Andy and Moxie rejoining them in the kitchen. "Morning Ricky," Andy moved around Sharon to fix himself a cup of the freshly brewed coffee.

"Morning Andy," Ricky muttered in between chewing on another piece of fruit. "Did I interrupt something?" Andy gave them both a quizzical look as he watched them. "Oh no, Mom was just telling me about your case," Ricky quickly answered as he popped another piece of fruit in his mouth.

"Oh really?" Andy said, amazed that Sharon would share details of their latest case. "I was just telling him that we are in the middle of a case, no details were shared," Sharon clarified on Ricky's point. She moved the bowl of fruit to the kitchen table and then placed two bowls on the table for Andy and her.

"It's not like you would dare to share any details about your cases, Mom," Ricky rolled his eyes as he turned around on the stool and got off, walking over to grab a box of cereal and a bowl for himself.

"There's a reason for that," Andy told him as he joined Sharon at the table. "Both your Mom and I want to spare all of our children from the dirtbags and psychos out there. You guys can hear it on the news later on," Andy nodded to Ricky as he started to eat his breakfast.

"Yeah, but," Ricky started, his mouth full of cereal. Sharon turned to him and gave him a scolding look. Even as old as he was, he knew that look from his mother meant business and he didn't want to press his luck anymore than he already had done.

"So, what time are you and Matthew going to the zoo?" Sharon asked, changing the subject as she ate a piece of toast. Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "Probably when it opens at 10," he said just as they all heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Andy finished his bowl of cereal and stood up from the table just as Matthew was walking into the kitchen. "Morning," Sharon smiled at the boy as he still looked like he was sleeping. "Morning," he mumbled as he gave her a hug.

"Do you want some breakfast?" she asked him as she fixed his some of his hair that was still standing up. He nodded and sat down at the table. "Good, your brother will get things ready for you as we both have to head into work," Sharon smiled and looked at Ricky.

"All right squirt, what would you like?" Ricky asked as he stood up and walked over to the sink to place his bowl and spoon there. "Lucky Charms," Matthew answered and glanced at his parents who were now getting things together for them to leave on time.

Sharon bent down to kiss Matthew on his forehead. "Be good for your brother today, and have fun," she told him and he nodded. "I will," he mumbled as Ricky placed the cereal box on the table. Sharon ran her hand along Ricky's face. "You be good too," she teased him. "Don't worry about us, Mom," he smiled.

Andy held out a to go mug for Sharon as she grabbed the rest of her things and they both headed towards the back door. "Bye kids!" Andy winked at Matthew and Ricky. "Later," Ricky waved as they left the house.

He turned to Matthew who was now eating his cereal in between petting Moxie who was sitting right next to him. "Alright, have you been to the zoo?" Ricky asked him. "I think so," Matthew couldn't remember. "Well, how would you like to go with me?" Ricky asked. "Okay!" Matthew hurried through his cereal.

"Wait a second, slow down, the zoo doesn't open for another 2 ½ hours or so, you have plenty of time to finish your breakfast without scarfing it down," Ricky chuckled at his brother.

45 minutes later, Andy and Sharon were pulling into the parking lot at the PAB. Andy parked the car and turned the engine off. "Can you believe that guy, cutting us off like that! Where did he think he was going to go?" Andy was still fuming from the drive in.

"Andy," she said turning to him in her seat. "I mean come on! He could have waited to merge on to the road, that's what that lane on the side is for, instead he just cuts over like he doesn't care!" he went on, ignoring the look from Sharon.

Sharon reached over and grabbed his hand, placing it in hers, and gently ran her fingers over his. Andy sighed and turned his head towards her. "No one got hurt and there was no accident," she reminded him and he nodded.

"Still, we should have gotten his license plate and given it to Traffic for reckless driving," he muttered as she continued to rub his hand. "Honey, you hate the Traffic Division," she smiled, trying to get Andy to at least smile.

He grumbled something non-coherent as he continued to stare out the front window. Sharon was about to say something else, but Andy's phone started to ring. He huffed as he pulled it out of his suit jacket pocket and looked at the screen. "It's Provenza," he muttered and clicked on the button to answer.

"Yeah?" he grumbled into the phone. "Hey, are you both on your way in?" Provenza asked as he was in the break room in the office. "We're in the parking lot," Andy told him. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Oh, don't tell me I interrupted something between you two," Provenza rolled his eyes as he fixed his coffee.

"We'll be up in a few minutes," Andy answered. "Good, tell the Commander that Tao is here running the sketch in the DMV database to see if we can get a match on a driver's license," Provenza walked back towards the Murder Room.

"I'll let her know," Andy said and hung up his phone. He took a deep breath and turned to Sharon who was still watching him, still rubbing his hand with her fingers. "Sorry about earlier," he huffed and she shook her head, dismissing it like it was nothing.

"Tao is running that sketch in the DMV database so maybe we will get to know who our dirtbag is," he told her and she nodded, still watching him. "Good, hopefully we will be able to move forward in this case," she answered.

He hesitated for a moment before opening the door and starting the day. Sharon watched him and waited until he stepped out of the car before she opened her car door. He walked around and met her on the other side.

He gave her a small smile and grabbed her hand as they both walked towards the elevators.

Meanwhile, in the Murder Room, Provenza was sitting at his desk, working on a crossword puzzle while Mike was sitting across from him at his computer, running the sketch in the system. Julio was on the phone and Amy was also talking to someone on her desk phone. Buzz was reviewing footage of the crime scene at his computer.

Julio hung up his phone and looked at Provenza. "Lieutenant, I just got off the phone with Dry Ice and Storage, near the airport. They don't rent to individuals, only business that deal with food and freight," he told him.

"Okay, so that narrows it down to, what, five places?" Provenza looked at the Murder Board at the names of the places that were not crossed off yet. He heard the clicking of high-heels and knew Sharon and Andy had arrived.

"Ah, morning Commander!" Provenza turned around in his chair as Sharon and Andy walked into the room. "Morning Lieutenant, how are we progressing this morning?" she asked as she stopped in the middle of the Murder Room.

Andy walked behind her and placed his things at his desk while Provenza explained to Sharon that Mike was still running the sketch and they narrowed the cold storage facility to five places from what they started with.

"Good," she told Provenza and turned her attention to Mike, who was staring at the computer screen, willing it to come back with a positive match. "Mike, let me know as soon as you get something," she told him. "Will do, Commander," Mike gave a salute and continued to stare at his screen.

Sharon walked over to her office and placed her things on her desk. She needed to finish their budget proposal for the following year, as it sat there on her desk. She took her seat behind her desk and started to work on it again.

"Flynn!?" Provenza yelled from across the room. "What?" Andy looked at him with his arms spread out to his sides as he sat at his desk. "Well, you're real cranky this morning," Provenza walked over to Andy's desk.

"Didn't get much sleep last night," Andy muttered. "Oh, geeze Flynn! I don't want to hear what you and the Commander did that kept you up all night long," Provenza shuttered at the thought. "It wasn't like that" Andy gritted his teeth at his friend.

Provenza then gave a concerned look at his friend. "I've been wracking my brain all night long trying to figure out where I've seen that guy before," Andy sighed. Before Provenza could respond, Mike blurted out, "Holy crap! It came back to a match!"

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 10

"Jeffrey Donovan, age 47, and resides at 995 East 51st Street in LA," Mike stated as Julio wrote the information on the board. Amy had picked up the driver's license photo from the printer and placed that on the board as well. They were all staring at Jeffrey's face now.

"Does he have a criminal record?" Sharon asked Mike as she walked over to stand next to Andy. "I'll run him in our database and we'll see what we can get," Mike sounding optimistic as he punched in a few key strokes on his computer.

Sharon glanced at Andy who was staring intently at Jeffrey's picture. "This is the janitor I saw at Matthew's school," he told her, pointing his finger at the picture. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Oh, yeah. I knew I had seen him before, that sketch was a little off, but now that I've seen his photo, that's him," Andy said with confidence.

"I'll call the school office and see if anyone is there," she touched Andy's arm as she turned around. "In the meantime, I would like financials and anything else you have on this Jeffrey Donovan," she told the team and they nodded as Provenza and Andy followed her into her office.

She sat behind her desk as Andy and Provenza took the seats across from her. She pulled out the school's phone number and placed her office phone on speaker as she dialed. She glanced over at Andy, who had the look of determination on his face, as they listened to the phone ring.

Sharon waited for the secretary to go through her greeting before speaking. "Hello, this is Sharon Flynn, Matthew Flynn's mother," she started to say over the speaker. "Oh, hello Mrs. Flynn, how are you doing?" the secretary recognized her calling.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking. Uh, the reason I was calling was I was hoping to speak to Principal Gottardo for a moment, is she there by any chance?" Sharon asked and the secretary told her to hold one moment. Sharon sat back in her chair and looked across her desk at her two Lieutenants.

Andy looked like he was ready to throttle someone and Provenza sat eagerly in his chair, waiting for the principal to come on the phone.

"Hello Mrs. Flynn, it's Principal Gottardo, how are you?" another voice came over the phone and Sharon moved closer to speak. "Hello Principal Gottardo, I'm doing fine, how are you?" Sharon was being polite. "I'm doing good, glad to be on break," she laughed. "Is everything okay with Matthew? I know we've been having an issue with some boys in his class," she continued but Sharon interrupted her.

"Oh, Matthew is fine, but the reason I was calling was to ask you a question about your staff. You see, I have you on speaker phone with two of my Lieutenants and myself. We have a few questions I was hoping you could answer," Sharon informed her.

"Oh, okay, how can I help you?" Principal Gottardo asked. "Well, did you recently change custodial staff?" Sharon asked. "Huh, that's an odd question, but we did have a new janitor come onto our staff towards the beginning of this school year," she informed Sharon, Andy, and Provenza.

"And could you tell us his name, by any chance?" Sharon asked. "Sure, his name is Jeffrey Kaminski, he's a great worker, always willing to clean anything from the messes the kids make during the day to fixing plumbing issues we have here, he's been a great addition," the Principal went on.

Sharon looked at Andy and he had the same look, they were both hoping that the Principal would say Jeffrey Donovan instead of Jeffrey Kaminski. "Um, Principal Gottardo, this may seem as an odd request but you don't by any chance have a picture of this Jeffrey Kaminski, do you?" Sharon asked her.

"Uh, no I do not. I've been meaning to update the staff pictures on our website but with this new school year and stuff, we haven't had a chance to update the site," she told Sharon. "Is this Jeffrey Kaminski at the school right now?" Sharon wondered.

"Oh, no he is not. He was here yesterday morning, but I'm assuming he finished his work here," she answered and then became suspicious. "Is everything okay with Jeffrey?" she worried and Sharon picked up on that in her voice.

"Yes, everything is fine. My team and I just had some questions that's all," Sharon tried to sound convincing. "Is he a suspect or something?" the Principal wondered. Sharon glanced up at Andy and Provenza.

"He may be, but we don't want him alerted or anything like that," Sharon told her and then took her off speaker and held the phone up to her ear. "Look, Principal Gottardo, do you have an address for Jeffrey?" she asked her and could hear her shuffling through some desk drawers.

"Uh, let me look at our directory, give me a moment," she heard her say and Sharon waited for her to tell her the address. Sharon wrote it down on some paper on her desk and thanked the Principal for her cooperation. She hung up the phone and passed the paper to Andy.

"That's the same address," he looked up at Sharon and gave the paper to Provenza. "We'll need a search warrant," Provenza told her. Sharon agreed. "I also want to know why he is using a false last name," she added.

All three of them stood up from their chairs and proceeded to walk out of Sharon's office. "Sanchez, we need to call for a search warrant to that address," Provenza barked out that order as he pointed to the board. Julio nodded and started to pick up his desk phone.

"Does it matter which Judge's office I call?" Julio asked. Provenza glanced at Sharon and deferred to her for a preference. "Call Judge Richwood's office," she answered and Julio dialed that number. "He said he would be glad to give us whatever we needed," she glanced at Andy and he nodded, knowing exactly when Judge Richwood had mentioned that.

 _It had been a few minutes later after the court room had been cleared and after Sharon had spoken to FID after the shooting of Dwight Darnell. Judge Richwood had gone into his chambers and had notified Sharon that he wanted to speak to her. Andy had gone with her and as the two of them were sitting, waiting for the Judge to come out, Andy had grabbed Sharon's hand._

" _How are you doing?" he asked her, concerned that she was hiding everything inside still. "I'm fine, Andy," she muttered to him, without showing any emotion. Andy was about to say something else but Judge Richwood had walked into the room and greeted the both of them._

" _Sharon, thank you for coming back here," he had told her and nodded to Andy as he sat down behind his desk. "I just wanted to tell you in person, how grateful I am for what you did this morning," he began after clearing his throat. Sharon shook her head and Andy gently squeezed her hand that he was still holding._

" _No, Sharon, please don't dismiss my gratitude for you, for your squad. Whatever you need, please don't hesitate to call my office, search warrants, whatever it is," he had told them. When Sharon didn't respond, Andy spoke and thanked Judge Richwood._

" _You all saved my life, there's no need to thank me Lieutenant," Judge Richwood said._

Andy came back to the present as Sharon touched his arm. She looked at him, concerned. "Everything okay?" she asked. "Yeah," he muttered, not wanting to worry her. She nodded at his response. "I'd like you to find out why he goes by two different last names," she told him and he went back to his desk.

A half hour later, Julio was pulling the search warrant from the printer and deposited 5 cents into the jar on Provenza's desk. "We have the warrant, ma'am," he held it up to show Sharon as she was standing next to Andy's desk.

Andy had been doing research on Jeffrey and had discovered that Jeffrey's mother's maiden name had been Kaminsky. "He's using his mother's maiden name," Andy blurted out and Sharon turned her attention to his computer screen that showed the information.

"Okay, so, let's pay a visit to Mr. Donovan or Kaminsky or whatever name he wants to use and find out if this is truly our guy, Commander," Provenza stated as the rest of the team looked at each other.

Sharon knew that would be the next step in solving this case. She was worried about her team going to the house of a potential serial killer. "Okay, but everyone wears their vest and be careful!" she told them and they all stood up and grabbed their things to get ready.

Sharon walked into her office and grabbed her gun from her purse, placing it on her hip. She went into one of the drawers in her office and pulled out her bullet-proof vest. She then grabbed her LAPD jacket and closed her office door behind her as she stepped out.

Andy was there waiting for her, along with Provenza and Buzz. "I just want to be clear, Commander on what the game plan is going to be once we arrive at this miserable excuse for a person's address," Provenza told her as they all walked together down the hall towards the elevators.

"Sure, Lieutenant," she stated as Andy pressed the elevator call button. "Once we arrive, I don't think we should be busting down his door, too many variables with that," Provenza stated. "I agree. I think we should knock first, before we enter, if it's warranted," Sharon added as the doors to the elevator opened and all four of them stepped inside.

"Geeze Flynn, sometimes I think you're rubbing off on her but then she throws in the rules," Provenza muttered to Andy as Sharon gave a pointed look to Provenza. Buzz smiled at the Lieutenant's remark.

Sharon smiled and giggled as well. Andy was holding her vest for her as they rode down. Provenza and Buzz were the first ones to exit followed by Sharon and Andy. They went to their respected vehicles and as Andy opened the trunk, Sharon stopped next to him and he handed her vest to her.

He tightened the Velcro straps on her vest after she placed it on. "Please be safe," he whispered to her as he looked her over, making sure she was good. "I think I should be the one telling you that, mister," she smirked and he released a nervous laugh. She made sure his vest was secured as well.

He watched her as she did that, running her hand on his vest, like she always did before an operation. She gave him a smile as she looked up at his face. He couldn't hide the fact that he was worried.

He didn't need to be reminded of the last time she wore her vest and what exactly happened to the both of them. "Good?" she asked and he nodded. Sharon placed her jacket over her vest and then proceeded to the front passenger seat of their SUV.

Andy took a deep breath and sighed. Closing the trunk, he made his way to the driver's side and got in. Sharon turned on the radio and did a radio check with the rest of the team before they headed out.

Meanwhile, back at the Flynn house, Matthew was dressed and ready to go when Emily came down to the kitchen. "Hey, glad to see you decided to grace us with your presence before we left," Ricky said, sarcastically to her. She gave him a face as she made her way towards the coffee maker.

She started to make herself a cup and turned around to look at her brothers. "Where are you two going today?" she asked. "The Zoo!" Matthew smiled and Emily chuckled. "Oh, good. Ricky can show you his favorite animal there," Emily teased.

Matthew looked at Ricky who was making a face at Emily. "What animal is your favorite?" he asked, innocently enough. Ricky squinted at Emily before turning to Matthew. "The rhinoceros," he told him with a straight face.

"I don't get it, that's a great animal, why would you tease him about that?" he asked Emily as he thought it was odd that Emily was teasing Ricky about his favorite animal. "Oh Matthew, it's something from back when we were kids," she placed her coffee mug down on the counter.

"Don't worry Matthew, I'm sure the oldest will tease you about your favorite animal as well," Ricky directed that more towards Emily than Matthew. Ricky glanced at his watch, and saw that it was almost time to leave for the zoo.

"Come on Matthew, let's leave our sister and go join the animals that are waiting for us," Ricky stood up from the table and grabbed his car keys. Matthew got up from the table as well and looked at his older brother.

"Oh, Mom wanted you to bring a sweatshirt with you, in case you get cold, which I don't think you will," Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "I'll bring one and leave it in the car," Matthew said as he ran upstairs to his room to get a sweatshirt.

"Did you ever figure out who your mystery man is that sent you those flowers?" Ricky turned to Emily, who was now making breakfast for herself. "I think it might be one of the guys that I dance with," she placed the bagel on her dish and moved towards the kitchen table.

Ricky nodded and Matthew came back from his room with a sweatshirt in tow. He petted Moxie on his head as he sat in the kitchen. "Be good," he told the dog. "Bye Emily!" both Ricky and Matthew said in unison and she laughed at her brothers. "Bye!" she chuckled and then shook her head.

Emily sat back in the kitchen chair and glanced over at Moxie, who had now laid down on his bed. She decided to get dressed and do a little Christmas shopping before she had to get ready to go to the theater for tonight's performance.

Meanwhile, in the Central Alameda area of Los Angeles, the Major Crimes team pulled up to the address listed on Jeffrey's driver's license. "I want us to park, discreetly. We don't need to alert him of our presence," Sharon conveyed over the radio as she looked out the passenger window.

Andy had just pulled over on the street a couple of houses down from Jeffrey's house and parked their vehicle. He noticed Provenza parked across the street and Mike had parked on the cross street, a few houses from them. He then glanced over at Sharon, who was still staring out her window.

"Before you step out of the car and become Commander again," Andy started to say to her as he touched her left hand with his right hand. "I know Andy, be careful too," she smiled and he winked. They stepped out of their car and met Provenza, Julio, and Buzz.

Amy and Mike were walking down the sidewalk and all of them went towards the house. "Mike, you and Amy head around to the back, see if you can see anything there," Provenza directed them as the rest proceeded to the front of the house.

"How do you want to do this, Commander?" he asked Sharon as they walked up the walkway to the steps of the bungalow. "Ring the doorbell and see if he's home," Sharon answered which threw Provenza off a little bit.

"Buzz, stay behind us," Provenza grunted as he directed him. Julio and Andy made their way up the two stairs first and stood on either side of the front door. Julio tried peeking into the windows on his side but he couldn't see anything. Andy did the same but shook his head to Sharon as she approached.

"Well, here goes nothing Commander," Provenza grumbled as he rang the doorbell and they waited. A minute went by and Provenza rang the doorbell again, but no answer. "Maybe he isn't home," Julio muttered as he grew impatient.

Mike and Amy made their way towards the back of the house. There was a blood trail from the end of the driveway to the front of the garage door. As Mike turned the garage door handle, it was open and the door opened slightly.

Sharon's phone rang startling all of them. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket and saw that it was Mike calling her. "Yes, Lieutenant Tao?" she answered. "I think we got probable cause to enter the house," Mike said as he was staring at a set of butcher knives that were hanging in the garage. Amy was looking over a table that had blood stains on it as he called Sharon.

"What do you have Lieutenant?" she asked him as she stood at the front door. Both Julio and Andy were ready to break down the door at her command. "Looks like the murder weapons and a lot of blood," Mike informed her as he looked at the knives and the table.

"I'm sending Buzz to you now," she told him as she waved for Buzz to go in the back of the house. "And we're going in the front," she added and nodded to both Andy and Julio.

All four of them drew their weapons and made their way to the front door. Sharon nodded to Andy and he signaled Julio to move. Julio opened the screen door and Andy kicked the front door by the door handle, cracking the frame and busting the door open.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is still reading this story. I appreciate it and the reviews! Thanks!

Chapter 11

"Police! LAPD!" Andy shouted in the house as he entered the living room. Julio went to the left. He motioned to them that he was going up the stairs that led to the second floor. Sharon nodded as she kept her eyes on Andy.

Andy moved through the living room, noticing the empty beer bottles on the coffee table and into the kitchen. Provenza went in back towards the bedroom and bathroom, which were both clear of anyone. Sharon stopped in the kitchen as Andy headed to the back-porch area of the house. It was small and also clear.

Julio made his way down the stairs. "The upstairs is clear, ma'am," he mentioned to Sharon as he joined them in the kitchen area. "Where does this door lead to?" Sharon asked and pointed to the door in front of them.

"The basement, probably," Provenza muttered. Sharon glanced at everyone there as they moved into position. Julio opened the door and turned on the light switch on the wall. Andy started to make his way down the stairs leading into the basement. He saw a workbench and boxes everywhere else. Sharon followed him and Julio followed her, leaving Provenza on the first floor.

"There's no one here," Andy muttered as he looked around the room. He saw Sharon eye the workbench and walked over to it. As she approached the area, she saw cut pipes and other metal objects on the bench.

Andy moved up behind her and he noticed a picture on the wall. It was of Sharon from a news article. "Sharon," his voice barely audible as he swallowed wondering why this dirtbag had a picture of his Sharon on the wall.

Sharon turned her head towards Andy and saw where he was looking. "He's got a thing for you," he mumbled as he placed his gun back in his holster and started to put on black, latex gloves. Sharon shook her head at the thought of this guy having her picture.

Andy removed the picture from the wall. "Bag it as evidence," she told him as she walked around looking at the other pictures Jeffrey had on the wall. One picture she paid attention to was the photo of a man and a woman and a little boy. The man was dressed in a Navy uniform. "I think we may have the connection to the Millers, here," she added and pointed to the two photos next to each other.

Andy walked over to her and saw the photos. The one picture was definitely the Millers, posing with another couple. That couple was the same in the photo with the small boy. "I think Jeffrey's parents knew the Millers," Sharon stated. "Looks like they knew each other from the Navy," Andy added as he bagged those photos as well.

Andy walked back over to the workbench to take a closer look at the items laying on it. He saw a sawdering iron and timers, along with pipes and gas valves. "I think we can tie him into starting that fire as well, looks like he was practicing or something like that," Andy pointed to the objects on the bench.

"Detective, I need Buzz down here now to take videos," Sharon stated to Julio. "Yes ma'am," Julio nodded and trotted up the stairs, leaving Andy and Sharon down there alone.

Andy cleared his throat as he looked at Sharon. Sharon glanced over to him. "Are we going to talk about this?" he asked as he held up the photo of her. Sharon shrugged her shoulders. "What's there to discuss?" she asked, which frustrated Andy even more than usual.

"Sharon, this psycho had a picture of you hanging on his wall," he said in a louder than normal tone. "Andy, it's just a picture. He obviously saw the news report and printed it out," she shrugged it off, even though deep down it bothered her.

"How can you be nonchalant about this?" Andy insisted. "We are not discussing this here," Sharon came back and Andy stared at her. Just then, Buzz came down the stairs. "Excuse me Commander, you wanted me to film things down here," Buzz interrupted them.

"Yes, Buzz, I would like you to film the workbench area, making note of the items located on top. When you are done here, please come upstairs," Sharon informed Buzz and he nodded as she left. He glanced at Andy and saw him looking at the floor. Buzz started to film the area.

"Commander, we need to locate this Jeffrey guy," Provenza said as she came up the stairs from the basement. "Maybe this will help?" Sharon turned around to notice Amy holding up what looked to be a bill from a cold storage facility.

Sharon walked around to the living room and noticed a laptop sitting on the coffee table. "Lieutenant Tao, do you think we can get anything off of his computer that would be useful?" Sharon asked him as he entered the house. "Possibly Commander," Mike pushed his glasses up his nose and walked over to the laptop computer.

"Here's a cell phone bill, maybe we can ping his location, Commander?" Amy handed another bill to Sharon and she nodded in agreement. "Lieutenant Provenza, please notify Patrol and see if they can send some cars out to this location. If Jeffrey comes back here, I want to make sure we have eyes on him," Sharon gave her orders to him.

Andy walked up the stairs to the kitchen and placed the evidence bag on the counter. He glanced at Provenza who had just gotten off the phone with Patrol. "What?" Provenza asked him and Andy handed him the evidence bag. He took a look through it after he placed exam gloves on his hands. "Why is there a picture of the Commander?" Provenza asked.

"This psycho had a picture of Sharon hanging up next to his workbench and she's acting like it's not a big deal," Andy muttered to his friend. Provenza sighed and shook his head. Walking back to where Sharon was standing with Mike, he informed her that patrol cars were on their way over to the house. "Good," she replied and saw Andy was standing in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey was driving back to his house from the store. As he pulled down his street, he noticed some cars that had not been there before, parked along the curb. He didn't think anything of it and proceeded to pull up to his house.

That's when he noticed his front door was open and then he saw his garage door was open as well. "What the hell?" he muttered out loud to himself as he stepped out of his truck. He proceeded to the front of his house and walked up the two stairs and saw people in his living room.

He ran back down the stairs and hopped back in his truck, starting it and pulling out of the driveway as quickly as he could.

Andy looked out the windows in the living room and saw a black pickup truck pulling out of the driveway. "Hey! Stop LAPD!" he yelled, running out of the house. Julio ran after him, followed by Sharon, who stood on the front porch.

Andy gave chase a couple of houses but slowed down after he saw the truck get further and further away. He pulled up, coughing as he tried to catch his breath. "Lieutenant, are you okay?" Julio stopped with him and saw Andy place his hands on his knees. He waved one of his hands at Julio and then stood up.

"Did you get a good look at the truck, sir?" Julio asked as they stood in the middle of the block. "Just that it was black, Chevy Silverado truck," Andy said, in between taking deep breaths. "Was that our guy?" Julio started to walk with Andy back to the house. "I think so, but I'm not sure," Andy huffed.

Andy saw Sharon standing out on the front porch of the house and she watched him come up closer to her. She noticed he was still huffing a little bit as Julio gave her the information on the truck. "Black, Chevy Silverado pickup, no license plate," Julio told her and walked back into the house.

"Are you okay?" Sharon asked, concerned that Andy was still coughing a little after giving chase to the truck. "That was him, it had to have been," Andy told her, ignoring her other question. "Why did you even chase after him?" she asked. "That psycho had a picture of our Commander up on his wall, not to mention he works at the school Matthew and Nicole's boys attend," he looked at her.

She smirked at the 'Commander' comment and was going to say something else but Provenza interrupted the two. "Uh, Mike found some information on the guy's computer, and Amy found some more information," Provenza had said.

Sharon and Andy walked back inside the house. "Commander, SID is on their way over here to process at least, the garage, at this point," Amy informed her. "Alright, I don't think our suspect will be coming back home anytime soon," Sharon informed the team and noticed that Buzz was done and was in the kitchen.

"Here's the information he had on his truck, license plate and such," Amy handed Sharon a piece of paper with the information. "Lieutenant, put out an APB on this, please," she turned and handed the information to Andy. "Sure," he muttered and pulled out his phone, dialing the number to Central.

"Yeah, Lieutenant Andy Flynn, Major Crimes, I need you to put out an APB on a truck," he spoke to the dispatcher over the phone. Sharon walked over to where Buzz was standing in the kitchen.

"Buzz, did you get everything on tape?" Sharon asked and he nodded. "Yes, Commander," he told her and she nodded in response. "Okay, let's head back to the office," she turned around and informed the rest of the team.

"Julio, can you and Amy stay here until SID gets here," Sharon asked. "Commander, looks like Patrol just pulled up," Provenza looked out the window. "Good," she commented and walked over to greet the officers.

Andy watched as Sharon spoke to the officers that showed up and he hung up his phone. Mike packed up the computer and bagged it as evidence. Amy took all of the bills that she had discovered and placed them in an evidence bag as well, handing them to Mike.

Andy waited for Sharon to be finished before he walked over to their car. Provenza walked to his car and Mike followed him as he was now going in Provenza's car. Buzz opened the back seat and climbed inside as Mike took the front passenger seat.

Sharon gave her instructions to the officers and joined Andy as he waited for her. "SID should be arriving soon, Patrol is going to watch the house," she told him as they walked towards their car. "Central issued an APB on that truck, hopefully someone sees it so we can find this dirtbag," Andy muttered as he opened her car door.

She didn't say anything as he closed her door. As he walked around the back of their car, he took a deep breath. 'Don't pick a fight, don't pick a fight' he repeated as he walked to his door. Andy opened it and sat down behind the wheel. He closed the driver's side door, and felt a twinge in his left shoulder again. He hissed as he sat there.

Sharon turned her head. "Andy?" she sounded worried. "I'm fine," he mumbled as he shook his left arm. "You're so stubborn," she exhaled as she placed her hand on his right arm. "I'm stubborn?" he huffed as he sat there.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "My shoulder acted up this morning when I woke up but I thought it would go away," he told her. "Is it your heart?" she asked, now very concerned. "No, it's not the same pain as that was," he paused. "It hurts where I got shot," he finally told her. "And I didn't want to worry you," he added.

Sharon shook her head. "Andy, you promised me that you would always tell me when you weren't feeling well," she almost felt like she was scolding him. "Yeah, well," he mumbled. He started the car and before he could drive off, Sharon spoke again.

"Yes, it bothers me that Jeffrey had that picture of me up on his wall," she blurted out. "Was it that hard to say that?" he sighed as he looked at her. "No, but at the same time I wanted to remain professional about it, not letting emotions get the best of me while we were down there," she told him.

Andy started to drive them back to the office. "I felt like I did when we found those pictures in Wade Weller's basement. He had kept tabs on us and we didn't even know who he was at that time," she reminded him. He remembered how she felt then, he was worried about her because at that time, he knew she would put her life in front of Rusty, to keep him safe.

"Andy," she simply said which brought his thoughts to the present. They had been stopped at a red light and he didn't realize that the light had changed until Sharon said his name. He pressed on the gas pedal and started to drive again.

"Did you take anything this morning for your shoulder?" she asked, turning her head towards him. He didn't say anything as they went towards the on ramp of the freeway. Sharon rolled her eyes and looked out her window.

Meanwhile, across town, Ricky and Matthew were enjoying the Zoo. They had walked over to the Giraffe's as soon as they arrived because they were one of Matthew's favorite animals here at the Zoo. Ricky and Matthew were watching the Giraffes eat when a younger woman walked over to them with another child around Matthew's age.

Ricky noticed her right away and was surprised she started talking to him. "Do you bring your son her often?" she asked. "Oh, uh, he's not my son," Ricky corrected her but then she had a confused look on her face. "He's my little brother," he told her. "Oh, that's nice of you to bring him here," she smiled.

"I bring my niece here every chance I get. She loves animals and has told me several times she wants to take care of them," she continued their conversation. Ricky smiled. "I'm Ricky, uh Richard, but people call me Ricky," he held out his hand towards her.

She smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Jane, that's my niece Ana," she introduced them to him. "My brother's name is Matthew," he told her. "Nice to meet you, Jane," Ricky smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Ricky," she told him.

"So, uh did you two just get here?" he asked but then he started talking to himself. "That's stupid, of course you just got here, I mean the park just opened, and," he started to ramble which made Jane laugh. "You're cute when you get flustered," she told him and he laughed.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 12

Jeffrey entered the cold storage facility and walked towards the small office inside his area. He brought in the few bags of groceries that he had purchased and placed them on a table. He threw his keys on the desk there and sat down on the chair. He huffed as he sat there and thought about what he saw at his house when he arrived there 30 minutes ago.

Back across town at the PAB, Sharon and her team were working diligently to find Jeffrey. Mike was looking at Jeffrey's laptop computer at his desk, going through all of his files. Julio and Amy were still at the house, waiting for SID to show up and process the crime scene. Provenza was on his phone speaking to one of the five cold storage facilities left on the list.

Andy was on his phone speaking to Jimmy Beltman, another owner of a cold storage facility located in the warehouse district. "Are you sure?" Andy said over the phone as he tried to get the attention of Provenza and Sharon, who was in her office at the time. Provenza looked over at him and thanked the person on the other end of his phone before hanging up.

"You got something?" Provenza asked as he walked over to Andy's desk. Andy turned around and saw Sharon was walking towards his desk as well. "What is it, Andy?" she asked. Andy placed his phone on speaker. "Jimmy, I have my Commander on the phone with me along with another Lieutenant in my division. Can you say again what you just told me?" Andy asked.

"Oh, ah, yes, like I was telling Lieutenant Flynn, I thought it was strange the other day that one of the cold alarms were going off in one of my storage areas that I rent out. Now, I called the owner and he came over to have a look and said that everything was fine. Lieutenant Flynn asked if we rent to individuals and I told him yes," Jimmy started dragging out the conversation, repeating his conversation earlier with Andy.

"Jimmy, cut to the chase, what you told me a few minutes ago," Andy interrupted him, shaking his head which brought a smile to Sharon's face and made Provenza roll his eyes. "Oh, sorry Lieutenant. The picture that you sent over to my office is the guy that I'm renting to on a monthly basis," Jimmy finally stated on the phone.

"Um, excuse me, Jimmy is it?" Sharon asked. "Yes ma'am," Jimmy replied. "Commander Flynn here, I just want to confirm that you are renting a facility to a Jeffrey Donovan or a Jeffrey Kaminski, is that correct?" she asked him.

"Yes, Commander, that is correct. The name he has on the contract is Jeffrey Kaminski though, but that's his picture all right," Jimmy stated. Sharon nodded and looked at Provenza. "Hey Jimmy I just want to confirm the address of your location," Andy told him and they did.

"Yeah, he drives a black truck, and a matter of fact, I think I saw him pulling in here not too long ago," Jimmy added. Andy looked up at Sharon and she nodded. "Okay, thank you Jimmy, um we will probably be heading to your location soon. I'm going to give you my number in case you see Jeffrey leave the facility," Andy told him.

"Okay Lieutenant, no problem," Jimmy said and the two hung up their phones. Andy leaned back in his chair and looked at Sharon and Provenza. "We haven't even finished processing anything yet, and Julio and Amy are still at his house waiting on SID to come," Provenza stated.

"We need to act now. Sharon, if he's there we can go and arrest him," Andy suggested and Sharon listened to both of her Lieutenants. She stood there thinking for a moment. "Lieutenant Provenza, call SOB and see if they are available to come with us to the facility," Sharon turned before walking over to the Murder Board.

Andy glanced at Provenza before he stood up and followed Sharon to the board. She was looking over all the information they had discovered at Jeffrey's house and throughout their investigation. She knew that they had to act fast in order to finally catch him. Sharon didn't know if he was capable of killing anyone else, for the matter.

He touched her elbow and she glanced over to look at him. Before they could say anything to each other, Provenza hung up his phone. "Uh, Commander, apparently there is a hostage situation going on at a bank in LA, therefor everyone within the Special Operations Bureau is tied up with that," Provenza sat back in his chair.

Sharon sighed and turned around to see how far along Mike was with Jeffrey's computer. "How are we doing here?" she asked him. "Well, there's nothing relating to any other murders, but I did find information about the Millers, and the Gonzalez's," Mike pointed out. "How so?" she asked him. Mike pointed to the computer screen and she saw pictures of the Millers, and of Richard, his wife, and son.

"He had researched them before killing them?" Andy asked as he stood behind Sharon. "It seems that way," Mike stated, folding his arms and leaned back in his chair. "He had a picture of you, Sharon," Andy said, barley above a whisper. Sharon knew what Andy was alluding to with that, but she had never encountered Jeffrey. Everyone that he had killed, he had known on a personal basis.

"And I also found this in his computer," Mike added and pulled up what Jeffrey had searched in Google. "He wanted to know about us," Sharon rubbed her forehead with her fingers as she looked at the screen.

"Lieutenant Provenza, call Detectives Sanchez and Sykes, find out if SID is there, and if so, have Julio and Amy meet us at the facility," Sharon directed Provenza as she turned around and went to her office. A few seconds later she walked out with her vest and jacket again. "Let's head out to the facility and arrest Jeffrey," she nodded to Andy and the rest of them.

Mike closed the computer and turned it off, placing it inside the evidence bag and sealing it, so that no one else would tamper with it while they were gone. He then placed it inside an empty desk drawer and locked it. Standing up, he put on his vest and threw his jacket on.

Provenza did the same thing, putting his vest on over his dress shirt and then grabbed his jacket. He took the keys from his desk and looked at Mike and then at Buzz. "Come on Buzz, you're riding with us again," he said and Buzz grabbed his camera and followed the two Lieutenants out of the office.

Andy grabbed his jacket after he placed his vest on over his head and strapped the Velcro together. Sharon and Andy walked out of the office and waited for the next elevator to take them back downstairs to their car.

"Andy, I know what you're thinking. But," Sharon started to say, however Andy interrupted her. "This guy's a psycho, Sharon. He researched us and was fixated on you," Andy shook his head as they stepped inside the elevator.

"You shouldn't even be going with us on this," he mumbled and as soon as he said it, he knew he was going to regret it. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," she told him as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage.

She walked out and Andy was behind her. All he wanted to do was protect her but at the same time, he had to respect her command. He never had a problem with it before they were dating, while they were dating, and even after they had gotten married, so why was he having such a hard time now? 'Because she got shot, you idiot,' he told himself, as he unlocked the car and caught up to Sharon, holding the car door for her and then closing it behind her when she got settled in.

Sharon pulled out her phone and dialed Provenza's number. "Are you ready?" she asked. "We're good, and we'll follow you," Provenza said over the phone. Andy backed the car out of the spot and waited till Provenza and his car came around the corner before driving towards their destination.

"Go just with lights, I don't want to spook our chances with Jeffrey hearing sirens as we approach," Sharon informed Provenza and company over the radio in their cars. Andy flipped the switch for the light bar as soon as he pulled out into the street.

It took them around 20 minutes to reach their destination and when they did, they parked off to the side of the cold storage facility. Two other patrol cars parked at an angle leading up to the gate of the facility.

As Sharon stepped out of the car, Provenza was right next to her. "Julio called, he and Amy are on their way over here," he informed her and she nodded. "Good," she looked to Andy who was dialing the owner of the facility, Jimmy, on his phone.

"Jimmy, Lieutenant Flynn," he said over the phone and after a brief exchange he hung up and looked at Sharon and Provenza. "He's on his way out here to show us where Jeffrey's storage is located," he told them and he looked over and saw someone coming out of what he assumed was the front office of the facility.

"Lieutenant, wow, you brought a few people with you," Jimmy said as he greeted Andy. "He's just up here over to the left and back," Jimmy pointed out the location to Andy and handed him a layout map of the inside. They passed by Jeffrey's truck so they knew he was still at the location. "Do you have a key to unlock the front door?" he asked Jimmy as he glanced at Sharon.

"Here you go," Jimmy handed him the key on the ring. "Great, thank you Jimmy. If you could return to your office," Sharon asked and Jimmy nodded in compliance as the team started to set up.

"Alright, I say we unlock the door and search the place for this psycho Jeffrey, but we need to be methodical about it. Two officers at the entrance and two others at the far exit around the side," Provenza stated and Sharon agreed.

The four patrol officers went to their posts immediately after Provenza told them. "Buzz, I want you behind us," Sharon told him and he nodded, getting his camera ready for the entry to the place. Andy looked at the map and saw that there was the possibility of three rooms once they were inside. One was the cold storage area; the other was a small office.

"Looks like there's a wide hallway and then three rooms," Andy showed Sharon, Mike, and Provenza the map. They nodded as Andy placed the map in the inside pocket of his jacket. "Unlock the door Flynn," Provenza pointed to the front door.

Jeffrey had heard the commotion outside the facility and knew he was in trouble. He quickly made his way to the other exit but he peeked through the sliver of the door and saw two police officers standing there. Quickly shutting the door, he made his way to the room that had the table and plastic tarps inside and waited.

Provenza, Mike, and Sharon drew their weapons as Andy placed the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door. Before opening it fully, he also drew his weapon and then slowly, he opened the door. Mike went first this time, followed by Provenza, Sharon, and then Andy.

As they made their way inside, the lights were on in the facility and the door to the small office was open. Mike glanced inside the office, quickly, and noted that the office was empty. He made his way towards the back of the facility, staying along the wall. Provenza kept close to him.

Sharon made her way into the small office and looked around. Andy stayed at the front of the office, watching Provenza and Mike down the hallway. Buzz followed Andy and turned his camera to the front office where Sharon was standing. Again, Sharon saw a picture of her, the same picture that Jeffrey had at his house. She shook her head as Andy met her gaze.

Mike opened the door to the cold storage area, glancing inside and seeing bodies. "Uh, I think we either found more bodies, or the body parts that were missing," he pointed to the hand and body parts inside. Provenza looking as well. "Dammit," Provenza muttered as he waved for Buzz to come over to where there were.

Sharon and Andy made their way up the hallway, and as Sharon was passing up the other room, the door quickly opened and Sharon was thrown inside the room. The door closed immediately and Jeffrey locked it.

"Sharon!" Andy repeatedly screamed as he pounded on the door. Jiggling the handle, he frantically tried to get the door to open.

"Hello Commander," Jeffery said as he pulled her inside. Sharon fought her attacker and doing so, dropped her gun a few feet away from where she stood. Jeffrey had grabbed a knife from the table and Sharon did her best to fight him off, keeping the knife from away from her. She braced her arms against his hand that held the knife. His other arm grabbed Sharon's jacket.

"I knew you looked familiar when I saw your picture on TV," he snarled at her as they fought. "I've seen you with your son at school," he continued as Sharon tried her best to control the knife. Sharon knew in her mind that he had just mentioned something about Matthew which placed her in fight mode even more so.

Sharon kneed him in his groin area which distracted Jeffrey for a brief moment but he came swinging back at her and ended up slicing her left arm with the knife. She cried out in pain. Jeffrey came back at her and she punched him, stepped on his foot, and kneed him in the groin again, which caused Jeffrey to fall over. Sharon ended up tripping as she also fell to the floor.

She turned around and crawled to where her gun was laying. She grabbed it and pointed her gun towards Jeffrey. Jeffrey had gotten up and started aggressively towards her again. She fired her gun twice, hitting him in the chest and head and he fell to the ground in front of where she was laying.

Andy was still trying to get the door open and threw his left shoulder into the door several times. He started to kick the door. Mike had found a crow bar and handed it to Andy. He placed the crow bar in the door frame and that's when they heard several gun shots.

"Sharon!" Andy yelled again and cursed before the door finally opened, breaking the door frame. He dropped the crow bar and immediately ran inside, seeing Sharon on the ground and Jeffrey a few feet from her, dead.

Mike went in behind Andy and went to check Jeffrey's body. He searched for a pulse but didn't find one.

Andy knelt down next to her. He gently pried the gun out of Sharon's hands and secured it. "Sharon?" he whispered, looking her over with his eyes trying to see if she was hurt. "I'm fine, Andy," she told him as she kept staring at Jeffrey's body. Andy helped her up from the floor and in doing so, that's when he noticed that her arm was bleeding. She had blood all over her jacket and on the floor where she was laying.

"Sharon, your arm," he said as he moved her back to the hallway. Provenza had grabbed the chair from the office and Andy had her sit there while he looked her over. He removed her jacket and that's when he was able to get a better look at her arm. Blood was still seeping from the wound and he took off his jacket and rolled it up, placing it and putting pressure on her arm.

"I'll call for paramedics and also for the medical examiner," Provenza informed Andy and he nodded, still keeping his eyes on Sharon. "I don't need paramedics," she muttered as she looked at Andy. "Now who's the stubborn one?" Andy chuckled as he kept pressure on Sharon's arm.

Sharon was looked over by the paramedics after they arrived. She was still sitting on the chair as one of the paramedics looked at her arm. He cleaned it as best as he could do with the supplies he had. "I think you're going to need stitches," he noted and Sharon groaned and hissed as he touched the wound.

After he cleaned the wound and wiped away the dried blood on her arm, he took a numbing spray out of his bag and started to spray it on Sharon's arm. She winced as he did this and Andy placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Sorry, it should numb your arm and relieve your pain until we get you to the hospital," he told her.

"Also, when was the last time you had a Tetanus shot?" he asked her. "She had one a year ago," Andy chimed in before Sharon could speak. "Okay, then you should be covered," the paramedic gave Sharon a wink as he placed gauze over her wound. "I'm going to cover it up now," he explained.

"I'm not getting stitches," she muttered to Andy as the paramedic worked on her arm. "Sharon, that wound won't heal on its own," Andy tried to convey to her. She huffed. "Fine, but I don't need to go there in an ambulance," she stated. "Okay," he chuckled as the paramedic finished.

"Keep your arm elevated for the time being, that will help with the bleeding, and we recommend getting to the hospital as soon as possible, to avoid an infection," the paramedic told both Sharon and Andy. "I'll take her as soon as you're done," Andy assured him and he packed up his things.

"I'm going to need a signature here stating that you are refusing to go with us in an ambulance," the paramedic held up a clipboard to Sharon and she quickly scribbled her name on the line. The paramedic grabbed his bag and left the area.

"Come on, you're coming with me," Andy told her as he helped her stand up from the chair. Sharon looked around the room and saw many people moving in and out of the area. "But I have to wait till FID gets here before I can leave," she insisted.

"Provenza called them and told them to meet us at Cedars," Andy stated, shaking his head as Sharon wanted to follow the rules, even when she was bleeding. Provenza walked over to where they were now standing.

"Commander, don't worry, I have things under control here. You need to go with Flynn, FID will meet you at Cedars for your statement," he told her. Sharon still looked around, hesitant to leave, but finally relinquished herself.

"Come on," Andy started walking with Sharon to their car. She stopped for a moment once they got outside the facility and closed her eyes. "You okay? Are you dizzy at all?" he asked her and she shook her head no. "No, you're not okay or no, you're not dizzy?" he asked, looking at her.

"No, I'm not dizzy," she told him, opening her eyes and started to walk again. He got her into their car and secured her seatbelt. "Is your arm okay like that?" he asked and she nodded yes. He closed the door, walking around to the other side. He got into the driver's side and started the car. He placed the car in drive and turned on the lights and sirens this time as he drove away towards the direction of Cedars.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 13

As Andy drove, Sharon stared straight ahead, the throbbing in her arm starting to bother her. "Andy, I don't want you alerting the kids that this happened," she softly stated and Andy glanced at her as he turned the corner down the street. They were a few blocks away from the hospital.

"I think they're going to know when they see your arm, babe," he pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance and parked the car. He saw Sharon trying to get her seatbelt off. "Hang on," he told her and unbuckled her seatbelt for her. He got out of the car and walked around to open Sharon's door, helping her out of the car.

He had parked in the police parking area and it was just a short walk to the entrance of the Emergency Room. As soon as he walked in with her, they were greeted by two nurses, one had a wheelchair while the other was holding a clipboard. "I'm her husband, she was involved in a knife attack about 30 minutes ago," Andy informed them as they entered the area.

Andy looked at both of them as he helped Sharon sit down in the wheelchair. "This isn't necessary, I can walk to the room," Sharon insisted but the nurses disagreed. "Don't worry, it's just protocol," one of the nurses said as she wheeled Sharon into an exam room.

Andy walked with the other nurse who was holding the clipboard and she was asking him questions. He answered them to the best of his knowledge. They were mostly about Sharon's recent health history. "The paramedics called ahead and stated that there were two police officers coming to the ER, one with a knife wound to her arm, so we were waiting for you," she smiled, informing Andy as they neared the exam room.

Sharon was being helped out of the chair by the nurse who brought her in when Andy and the other nurse walked in. Sharon winced as sat down on the examining table and the nurse unwrapped her arm. The nurse looked at the knife wound. "Well, I'm surprised you're not in more pain, honey," the nurse told Sharon as she took a look at the wound.

Andy stood there, filing out papers as the two nurses looked over Sharon. "I think the numbing spray that the paramedic sprayed on my arm is wearing off now," Sharon winced again as the nurse started to poke around her arm.

Sharon gave a glance towards Andy and as he looked at her, he could read her mind without her saying anything. He placed the clipboard down on the counter and stood by her side, grabbing her free hand and holding it.

"Okay, I'm going to get some butterfly strips, stitches, and a few more items," the nurse said as she stood up from the stool she was sitting on and walked to the cabinets across the room. Andy gave her a reassuring smile as she sat there on the exam table.

"When was the last time you got a tetanus shot?" she asked Sharon as she went through the cabinets looking for the items she needed. "Last year," Sharon stated, clearing her throat. "Oh good, then you are covered," the nurse walked back to Sharon and Andy.

"Do you have any bleeding disorders?" the nurse asked her. "Um, not that I'm aware of," Sharon responded. "She had an issue with her spleen not too long ago," Andy chimed in, not knowing if that made a difference.

The nurse glanced over her shoulder. "What happened with your spleen, honey?" asking Sharon. "It was enlarged after being shot, but it's back to being normal," Sharon told her and she nodded. "Okay, then I would stick to taking Tylenol for the pain, because what I'm going to use to numb the area will wear off eventually," the nurse explained to them.

"Alright, here we go," the nurse said as she laid out the items on the tray next to the table. "First, I'm going to clean the wound a little more, just to make sure there's no other debris in it," the nurse explained as she opened the package with the swab inside. She gently started to rub Sharon's wound with the swab and Sharon grimaced.

"Here, hold my hand," Andy told her and she held his right hand with hers, squeezing it as the nurse continued to clean her arm. "You're doing good, Sharon," the nurse told her as she ripped open another sterile bag that contained another swab. She took the numbing spray from the tray and shook it before she sprayed her arm.

"This is going to numb the area so that I can be able to stitch up your wound without you being in discomfort," the nurse stated. It felt cool as soon as the spray hit Sharon's arm. "I forgot how much it sucks to get stitches," Sharon muttered.

"I know sweetheart but it's going to help your arm heal," Andy gave a small kiss to her head. The nurse looked at the two of them and smiled. "So, how did you get this?" she asked as she started to thread the needle. "We were after a man who had killed a few people and chased him down to a warehouse," Sharon told her as she started to seal up her wound.

"Oh honey, you were shot not too long ago and now this? Dangerous job you both have," the nurse shook her head. "So, he's your husband and your partner?" she asked, making small talk to take Sharon's mind off of what she was doing to her arm. "She's my boss," Andy smiled. "Oh honey, I'm sure he keeps you busy," the nurse laughed and was ready for the next step.

The nurse started to stitch Sharon's arm and within five minutes, she was done and was wrapping Sharon's arm with gauze. "Okay, so you're going to want to keep this dry for a day or two and then you can take a shower, but keep the stitches dry, wrap saran wrap over them, that usually works, for the first week. Now if you see pink around the wound, that's okay. But, if you see any oozing or puffiness, yellow discharge, either come back here or see your regular doctor. We would prefer you to come back here," the nurse gave out instructions as Sharon and Andy listened.

"How long before they come out?" Andy asked as he could tell Sharon was getting tired. "Two weeks, and you'll go to your regular doctor for that. He will get a copy of today's encounter and in the next couple of days, call his office and make an appointment for two weeks from today," the nurse told them and Andy nodded.

"Ah, looks like some of your friends are here to see you," the nurse stated as she glanced out into the hallway at two men in suits. "Good luck Sharon," she said as she left. "Thank you," Sharon and Andy both said to her and Andy sighed as he saw Sergeant Elliot and another man waiting outside in the hallway.

"Where do you want to talk to the goons?" Andy asked Sharon. "Andy they're not goons," Sharon scolded him. "Sorry," he muttered as he helped her off the exam table. She walked over to Elliot and gave him a smile.

"Sergeant," she nodded to Elliot and he smiled. "Hello Commander, it's good to see you in one piece. When we got the call from your division, I had hoped everyone was okay," Elliot told her and Andy rolled his eyes.

"We can talk down the hallway, and I'm going to need your gun too," Elliot told her and led the way down the hall with Andy trailing behind them. They walked into a break room and the other guy started to close the door before Andy could join them.

Andy glanced at Sharon as he placed his hand on the door, stopping it from closing. "I'll be okay," Sharon smiled at Andy and he nodded. He stood by the door and watched through the glass as Sharon handed Elliot her gun and had a seat at the table.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Provenza's number. "Flynn, how's she doing?" Provenza said as he answered his phone. "Okay I guess, she got stitches and now the goons from FID are here," Andy told him as he kept a close watch on Sharon. "Those are her people Flynn. Who'd they send over?" Provenza asked.

"Elliot and some other guy, who I don't like," Andy gritted his teeth as he kept watching Sharon through the glass window. "We're heading back to the office now, everything is under control on this end," Provenza informed him.

Sharon was talking to Elliot while the other guy just sat there. "So, Commander, please tell me what happened in your own words," Elliot asked Sharon and she started explaining what had transpired.

"We moved into the warehouse facility, Lieutenants Provenza and Tao went ahead to check out the last room while Lieutenant Flynn and myself stayed towards the front and checked on the small office inside. The office was clear, except for a picture of myself, we didn't find anything else in that office," Sharon took a deep breath before continuing.

"Andy and I then moved up the hallway to the next room. That's when Jeffrey opened the door and pulled me inside the room," she cleared her throat. "Take your time, Commander," Elliot said and Sharon smiled and nodded her head.

"I dropped my gun when he pulled me inside and struggled with Jeffrey for what seamed like an eternity. He had a knife and I was blocking his arm from striking me as best as I could. We fought more, I punched him and kicked him. He fell down and as I turned, I tripped and fell. Reaching for my gun and grabbed it and turned around, shooting Jeffrey twice as he came after me again," Sharon finished and looked at Elliot, who was writing some information down on a pad of paper.

Andy was still standing outside the room, watching Sharon sitting there. He knew she was talking, probably telling her re-count of the whole situation that happened. He glanced down at his phone and saw that Ricky had texted him and also Sharon. He sighed as he opened the text message, noting that Ricky had sent his message while they were at the cold storage facility.

He had sent them both a picture of him and Matthew at the zoo in front of some reindeers. The text said 'Matthew found some of Santa's reindeers hanging out at the LA Zoo'. This made Andy smile as he looked back at where Sharon was sitting. He took a deep breath and blew the air out of his mouth slowly.

He saw her stand up from the chair which meant that they were done. "Finally," he muttered to himself as he saw Elliot stand along with the other guy from FID. He held the door open as Sharon walked out. "Everything okay?" he asked her as they walked down the hallway.

Sharon hooked her right arm through Andy's left arm as they walked together. "Yes, just, you know routine things," she sighed. "I have an appointment with Behavioral Sciences tomorrow morning, and the shooting range tomorrow afternoon," she told him and he nodded.

Thinking of something that could change her mood, he remembered the picture. "Oh, Ricky sent us both a picture from the zoo," he added as they walked out of the Emergency Room entrance and over to where the car was parked.

"Oh really?" Sharon stopped as Andy opened her car door for her. He got her settled inside before showing her the picture on his phone. "Oh, look at them," she smiled and held onto Andy's phone as he closed her door.

He walked around the car, pausing briefly in the back and took a deep breath. Today was a close call. They've been having a lot of close calls lately it seemed like. Andy shook his head and continued towards the driver's side, getting in and starting the car. He saw that Sharon had placed his phone in the cup holder in the middle console and had leaned her head back.

"Doing okay?" he asked her and she nodded. "Yes," she told him, barely above a whisper and he pulled out of the spot and pulled away from the hospital. Andy drove the car in the direction of their house and Sharon noticed immediately.

"Where are we going?" she asked him. "Uh, home?" he simply stated as he continued to drive. Sharon shook her head slightly. "I want to go back to the office," she protested. "Sharon, you were just stabbed, you shot the suspect, I think home is a better option, you need to rest and relax," Andy insisted.

"No, I'm fine. Please, go to the office," she told him but he didn't budge. She started to get agitated and used his rank. "Lieutenant Flynn, take me back to the office, that's not a request," she demanded as he drove.

They were currently at a red light, stopped with other traffic. The last thing he wanted to do was get into an argument with her. "Fine," he muttered and turned down the street, heading towards the PAB instead. "Thank you," Sharon said as she looked out her window.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the parking garage at the PAB and Andy parked the car in their spot. "As your husband and your Lieutenant, I'm advising you against going into the office after all that has happened to you today," Andy told her as he turned in his seat and watched her sit there.

Sharon thought about what he said and then turned in her seat to look at him. "Andy, when you got thrown from that car, didn't you return to work that evening? Without even telling me what had happened to you?" she said.

"Yes," he muttered. "I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I'm fine and I just want to close out this case today, so that we can spend time with our family," she told him and he reluctantly opened his door and got out of the car, grabbing his phone and placing it in his pocket.

He opened up the lift gate in the back and pulled out Sharon's vest, holding it as he walked over to her door and opened it for her. She stepped out of the car and walked with Andy towards the elevators.

They stepped off the elevator together on the ninth floor and made their way to the Murder Room. Sharon walked ahead of Andy as they walked into the office area. Provenza perked his head up from the paperwork he was doing as saw Sharon walking towards her office.

"Commander?" he said, standing up from his desk and walking towards her. "Lieutenant," she said as she glanced around the room, noting that everyone was back and working at their desks. "Uh, you know we have everything under control here," he stated but Sharon stopped him from continuing.

"I appreciate it, but I'm fine, really. I spoke to FID already, I have my appointments tomorrow morning. I'm fine. Let's get this case closed," she told him and then walked into her office, and sat down behind her desk.

Provenza turned around and looked at Andy, who was still carrying her vest. "I thought I told you we had things handled here?" he stated to him as Andy walked closer to his desk. "You know how she is, does it surprise you we're here?" Andy said, placing her vest on the table outside her office door.

"Anyway, I already got my head practically bitten off when I turned the car towards the direction of our house as we left the hospital," he told Provenza as he sat down in his chair, forgetting that he still had his vest on. He stood back up and took his vest off. As he did this he grumbled at the pain in his left shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Provenza noticed the grimace. "I think I hurt my shoulder further when I was banging on that door trying to get it open," Andy placed his vest on the floor next to his desk before sitting back down.

"Besides, she's being stubborn and you and I both know how that gets," Andy said. "I heard that!" Sharon stated, loudly from her office and Andy hung his head. "Uh oh Flynn, sounds like you're in the dog house!" Provenza muttered to him and Andy just smirked at his friend as he watched him walk back to his desk.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 14

Ricky opened the door and Matthew followed him inside. They were greeted by Moxie who was wagging his tail. "Do you want to go outside?" Ricky asked the dog and he nudged him further towards the door. "Okay, easy there," Ricky chuckled and Matthew brought in the bag he was carrying from the souvenirs from the Zoo and then joined Ricky and Moxie outside in the backyard.

Matthew looked at Ricky who was laying on the grass, looking up at the sky. "What's wrong?" he asked him as Moxie followed the boy to where Ricky was laying. Moxie sat down and looked at Ricky as well.

"That girl that we met at the zoo this morning. Why didn't she tell me she had a boyfriend right away, instead of talking and talking to me, I think she was flirting with me, and then all of a sudden, she sees him and she's like 'got to go!' and walks off with her niece!" Ricky rambled.

Matthew's eyes widened as he looked at his brother. "I don't know?" he shrugged his shoulders and watched him get up off of the grass. Ricky looked at his watch. "Come on, Mom and Andy are going to be home soon, and you need to change your shirt," Ricky pointed to Matthew's shirt.

For lunch he had a hot dog and had spilled mustard all down his shirt. He tried to clean it up the best he could but, it was a mess. Matthew and Moxie followed Ricky back inside the house.

Meanwhile, at the PAB, Sharon was sitting in her office when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she answered without looking up from her computer. Assistant Chief Mason walked in and stood by the doorway. "I thought I heard something about one of my Commanders getting injured and coming back to work after a hospital visit but I had to make sure for myself," Mason stood there shaking his head.

He moved closer to her desk as she looked up from her computer. "I'm fine, Leo," she mumbled as she continued to work on the reports. "Yeah, I know you're tough, Sharon, and you don't have to prove anything like that, especially to me," he said and looked around the office at everyone else.

"Your team could handle the paper work and after-action reports that need to be filed, why don't you go home, take it easy," he suggested but Sharon shook her head. "I have my meetings tomorrow morning," she informed him. "I know," he nodded.

Sharon seemed to ignore Mason as he was standing there. "Commander," he said sternly. She looked up at him. "Go home," he simply stated and he walked out of her office. She watched him leave her office as she sat there. She didn't want to be handled by her team, let alone her chief, but right then, the pain medication must have started to wear off and a throbbing pain started where the stitches were placed.

She sighed as she started to turn off her computer. 'Perhaps everyone was right,' she thought to herself. Maybe she was pushing herself as she usually did. She didn't push Andy to return to work after all of his injuries sustained throughout the years, nor did she push the rest of her team after numerous injuries sustained on the job. So why did she feel the need to push herself?

"Lieutenant Provenza, I trust you can handle things here if the Commander goes home, correct?" Mason said, loudly enough so he knew Sharon heard him. "Ah, yes, of course, Assistant Chief Mason," Provenza looked at him, skeptical at first.

Andy stood up from his desk and glanced at Sharon through her window. Chief Mason left the office and Provenza stood up from his desk. He glanced at his watch and noted the time. Technically it was almost time for everyone to leave anyway. He glanced over at Sharon's office and saw her starting to pack up her things.

"Flynn, please take the Commander home, the rest of us will finish up what we can in the last half hour here and then we will finish tomorrow morning," Provenza told Andy and the rest of the team. Andy took his suit jacket and started to put in on, grabbing his keys from his desk as Sharon stepped out of her office.

"Lieutenant," Sharon started to say but Provenza stopped her. "Now Commander, don't worry, we got this covered, you just get better, and make Flynn here wait on you hand and foot," Provenza smirked and the last bit caused a smile and a laugh to come from Sharon.

"Ha ha, very funny," Andy snickered as he walked up to join Sharon. "Good night everyone," she said, almost exhausted from the whole ordeal. Andy placed his hand on the small of her back and walked out with her.

By the time Sharon and Andy arrived home, Sharon was ready to get out of the car. "Ricky and Matthew are back home," she stated as Andy pulled the car into the garage. "Hopefully he had a good time at the Zoo," she rubbed her hand on the back of Andy's right hand as it sat on the gear shift.

Andy turned to her as he turned off the car. "Which one?" he chuckled and Sharon laughed as well. He watched her as she sat there, fiddling with the seat belt. He stilled her hand as it was trying to disengage the belt. "I love you," he told her, giving her that look that melted her heart.

"I know that you don't want me to hover over you and such, but can I just ask you one thing before we go inside?" Andy asked, and hopefully he was going to say the right words as Sharon nodded, encouraging him.

"Why was it that Chief Mason can tell you to go home at work because you're injured and the team can handle the paperwork, and you listen to him, but when we left the hospital and I started to head home, you immediately protested, throwing my rank in the mix, demanding that I take you back to the office?" he asked, watching how Sharon reacted to his question and hopefully not ruining his chances at sleeping in the same bed with her tonight.

Andy saw the painful look cross Sharon's face the instant he stopped talking. It wasn't his fault that Sharon had gotten a pain in her arm while she sat there listening to him. "I'm sorry Sharon, here, let's get you inside so you can take some Tylenol like the nurse said," Andy said before Sharon could say anything and stepped out of the car, meeting her on the other side.

He held the door open and she stepped outside the car and handed him her bag and purse. He closed the garage door and walked with Sharon to the back door of the house. "Andy, please remember, I don't want the kids knowing right away that something happened, okay?" she told him and he nodded, not knowing how that was going to happen.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside with Sharon. As they made their way into the kitchen, Sharon saw Ricky sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh, hey Ricky, how was the Zoo today?" she asked as she made her way towards the refrigerator to get a glass of water.

Ricky looked up from his computer. "It was okay, Matthew enjoyed it, did you get the picture I sent you two?" he asked them and glanced to his mom first, then Andy, who was handing Sharon her purse. She took out the small packet of Tylenol that the nurse had given her and she quickly took two pills.

"Yes, I showed your Mom the picture because she was a little preoccupied with our case during the time you had sent it. Where is Matthew by the way?" Andy asked him, looking around the kitchen at Ricky.

"He's in the family room, watching TV with Moxie," Ricky answered and knew something was strange between the two. "Alright, what's going on with you two?" he asked, folding his arms after he closed his laptop computer.

"Why do you think somethings going on?" Sharon asked him as she made her way towards the kitchen table. Ricky looked at his Mom and at Andy. Andy was giving him a skeptical look. "Uh, I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders as he sat there.

Sharon smiled at him and then started to make her way towards the hallway. "I'm going to change my clothes," she informed them and walked away. Ricky waited a few seconds before he turned to Andy and started grilling him.

"Did something happen with the case today?" he asked Andy as he was still leaning up against the island in the kitchen. "Uh, we solved it, got our guy, he won't be hurting anyone again," Andy rambled and Ricky squinted at him. "Why are you rambling?" he asked his step-dad.

"I'm not rambling," Andy chuckled and started to walk away from him. "Something's not right here!" Ricky called out as Andy stepped towards the family room, waving his hand like he was waving off Ricky's inquiry.

Andy walked into the family room and saw Matthew laying across the couch with Moxie at his feet. The TV was on and he was watching some cartoon on the Disney XD channel. He sat down in the chair next to the couch. "Hey Matthew," Andy sighed sitting there.

"Dad, you're home!" Matthew looked over to him and jumped off the couch. "Where's Mom?" he asked as he looked around the room. "She's upstairs changing," Andy answered. "How was your day at the Zoo?" Andy asked as he watched Matthew start to leave the family room.

"I have something to show both you and Mom, hang on!" Matthew told him and ran up the stairs into his room to get the bag from the Zoo.

Sharon was in their bedroom changing her clothes. She easily changed her dress pants into black yoga pants. Changing her shirt was another story. Both of her arms were sore now. She struggled but managed to take off her top and change into a more comfortable sweatshirt.

Andy glanced towards the stairs and wondered if he should have followed Sharon up to their bedroom to help her change. He glanced down at his shirt and that's when he noticed a little bit of blood, Sharon's blood, on it. Why he didn't notice it before, he didn't know. He stood up from the chair and started to walk up the stairs.

As Matthew was coming out of his room, Sharon was moving towards the hallway from their room. "Hey Mom!" Matthew smiled and quickly hid the item behind his back. "Well hello, did you enjoy your trip to the Zoo?" Sharon asked, wondering what he was hiding behind his back. "I did," he smiled and turned to the stairs.

"I want to show you and Dad something together," he started to say and then noticed Andy coming up the stairs. "Oh, well since you are both up here, I'll show you now," Matthew told them. "Um, actually if you could hold off a minute or two, I just need to quickly change my shirt," Andy asked as he made it up to the second floor.

Andy glanced at Sharon and she nodded. "Matthew, why don't we got wait downstairs for Dad, you can tell me all about your Zoo trip and we he comes down, you can show us whatever it is you wanted to," Sharon placed her right arm and hand on Matthew's shoulder to turn him towards the stairs. "Okay," Matthew mumbled and followed Sharon.

As they went down the stairs, Andy went into their bedroom and opened one of the drawers in the dresser, looking for a t-shirt to wear. He decided on a LA Dodgers shirt and also decided to change his pants into a pair of jeans. He went into the bathroom and changed his clothes, noticing Sharon's clothes she had just worn on the bathroom floor.

He picked up her blouse and also noticed a little trickle of blood on it. He took off his dress shirt and placed her shirt and his in the sink and ran the cold water on the blood stains. He then looked at himself in the mirror. That's when he saw a small bruise forming on his left shoulder. "Damn," he mumbled to himself as he pressed gently on his shoulder.

He placed the t-shirt over his head and through some minor pain, was able to get it on. Changing his pants, he made sure both shirts were now soaking in cold water and left the bathroom, turning off the light.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Matthew was sitting back on the couch telling Sharon all about their day at the Zoo. "And then Ricky met this girl there while we were by the Giraffes," he continued but Sharon stopped him. "Oh, a girl?" she asked wondering why Ricky didn't mention it before. "Yeah, but she ended up being there with her niece and another guy, I guess her boyfriend," Matthew explained and Sharon nodded, knowing that's why Ricky didn't say anything. She listened as Matthew continued to talk about the Zoo.

"So that's why I want to show you and Daddy what else I did there, I mean it was sort of suggested by Ricky, as he saw a sign for it when we walked in to the Zoo, at the main gate," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. Sharon smiled at him. "Oh, I'm sure Daddy will be coming down soon," she told him as she heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Alright, did I miss anything?" Andy walked into the family room and sat down next to Sharon. "Matthew was just telling me about the Zoo," Sharon told him, noticing that he was now wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which looked good on him.

Andy kissed the side of Sharon's head and leaned forward so that Matthew could show them what he wanted to earlier. "Okay Matthew, what did you want to show us?" Sharon asked him and Matthew reached behind him and pulled out a picture of him with Santa at the Zoo.

"I saw Santa at the Zoo today!" he said excitedly as he showed the picture to them. "Oh wow!" Sharon said as she looked at the picture. "That's great!" Andy said as he saw the picture as he slipped his right hand onto Sharon's right shoulder as they sat on the couch.

"What did you tell him you wanted for Christmas?" Sharon asked, hoping whatever he said, they had already purchased for him. "I asked him to bring Moxie a new toy, one that he won't shred," Matthew said and they chuckled at that comment because no matter what toy Moxie had, he seemed to tear it apart within a couple of weeks from receiving.

"That's very sweet of you, but what did you ask for yourself?" Sharon asked him again. "I asked him for a digital watch, and a drone, and a remote-controlled race car that can do flips!" Matthew told them. "Oh, hmm," Sharon said and smiled at Matthew. "Well, hopefully Santa and his elves can bring what you asked for," Andy chimed in and Sharon glanced at him.

"Here Matthew, let's put this picture up on the mantle with the stockings," Sharon took the picture and placed it with all of the pictures that were above the fireplace. "Perfect!" Matthew said as he watched Sharon. "Why don't you get cleaned up and ready for dinner," Sharon told him and he went into the bathroom on the first floor to wash his hands.

"A drone?" Sharon quietly stated to Andy. Andy shrugged his shoulders. "If we can't get it in time for Christmas, there's always his birthday a couple days later?" he suggested as he walked over to where she was standing. She was looking at the Christmas Tree and then glanced at all of her angels that were on display.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her and gave a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Better," she closed her eyes as they remained close to one another for a few, quiet minutes.

"I don't think I want Matthew having a drone," she told him, breaking the minutes of silence between the two. Andy moved his head to look into her eyes. "That's fine," he muttered to her and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

She started to speak again as he held her. "To answer your question from earlier about why you think I listened to Mason and not you," she cleared her throat and continued. "I may have realized that you wanted to take care of me again, and maybe, just maybe, my pride at that moment when we were leaving the hospital may have gotten the better of me, and it took me awhile to figure it out," she stated as he looked at her.

Andy didn't say anything except shook his head slightly.

After dinner, Sharon retreated to the family room where Ricky was sitting on one of the chairs, still working on his laptop. "So, what's new? I feel like we haven't had time to sit and talk since you've been home," Sharon eased down on the couch and faced him.

"Well, I'm currently working on a project for a small startup company. They wanted me to go over a few IT strategies for them," Ricky said as he hit the save button and closed his laptop to focus on his mom. "What about you? Andy told me you guys solved your case today, that's good news, right?" Ricky asked.

"Yes, that is good news, and hopefully we won't catch another case so that I can enjoy spending time with you, and Emily, and Rusty, and Matthew," she smiled at him but he had a skeptical look on his face. "Mom, what's going on?" Ricky asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, shifting in her place on the couch. "Well, usually when you solve a case, you drink a glass of wine with dinner, tonight you had water," Ricky informed her. "So? I had water because I wanted a glass of water with dinner," she answered and Ricky smirked as he sat there watching her.

"I was happy to hear that you took Matthew to see Santa at the Zoo. I know he was looking forward to talking with him again this year but I didn't know when Andy or I would have been able to take him," Sharon said. "It just surprised me when we saw the sign for him that Matthew still believes in him. I figured we were there so I took him," Ricky shrugged his shoulders.

"I think this is going to be the last year that he believes in Santa. If he asks later on, we'll have that talk as I'm sure kids in his class are half believing and half not believing," Sharon spoke quietly as she didn't want Matthew to hear their conversation.

Matthew was in the kitchen helping Andy put away the dishes from dinner. He enjoyed loading the dishwasher so while Andy rinsed off the plates, he placed the plates inside the dishwasher, loading them just the way Sharon likes.

"You obviously been watching your Mom load the dishwasher," Andy pointed out as he handed Matthew another bowl. Matthew shrugged his shoulders and continued to load this last dish. "Can we watch a movie tonight?" Matthew asked him.

Andy looked at the clock on the wall. He wanted to catch a meeting tonight. "Go ask your Mom, she's in the family room with Ricky," he told him as he placed the dish towel on the handle of the oven and then followed Matthew towards the family room.

"Mom? Can we watch a movie tonight?" Matthew called out as he walked into the family room. Sharon turned around to see Matthew moving towards her followed by Andy. "Oh, well, sure, we can watch a movie," she smiled at Matthew.

"Yes!" Matthew gestured with his hand like he scored the winning shot and went to the TV to see which movie he was going to pick out.

"I'm going to catch a meeting and I'll be back in an hour or so, are you going to be okay?" Andy leaned down and spoke to Sharon. Sharon looked up at him. "Yes, I'll be fine," she assured him and he gave her a kiss.

"How bout this one?" Matthew held up the _Peter Pan_ DVD. "That's not a Christmas movie Matthew," Ricky pointed out and he stood up and searched for another movie. "Ah ha! Here's a Christmas movie," Ricky said and held up the _Die-Hard_ DVD.

"Your brother is not watching that movie," Sharon scolded him and Andy laughed at Ricky's long face he made. Andy grabbed his coat and walked out the back door to drive to the AA meeting.

"Fine," Ricky placed the movie back on the shelf. "Matthew if you want to watch Peter Pan, we will watch Peter Pan," Sharon smiled and Matthew placed the DVD into the player and sat down next to Sharon.

Andy drove to the meeting at the local church and pulled into the parking lot. He sat there for a few minutes and took a deep breath. He got out of the car and walked into the church and headed down the stairs to the basement where the meeting was held.

A couple hours later, Matthew was asleep on the couch, curled up into Sharon's right side. The movie was over and Sharon found herself staring at the Christmas Tree once again. Ricky came up behind her. "Do you want me to take him upstairs?" he asked.

She looked down at Matthew, sleeping, and nodded her head. "Okay, if you don't mind," she told him and he walked around the couch and lifted Matthew up. He started to stir. "Come on Matthew, time for bed," Ricky told him and carried him up the stairs to his room.

"I'll be up in a minute to tuck him in," Sharon called out to Ricky as he climbed the stairs. She got up from the couch and decided to take another Tylenol for her arm. As she was in the kitchen, she saw headlights coming up the driveway and saw Andy's car pull up into the garage.

Minutes later she heard the back door open and Andy step into the kitchen. "How was your meeting?" she asked him. "It was okay," he told her as he moved towards the refrigerator and grabbed a sparkling water bottle, opening it and taking a few gulps.

"Ricky took Matthew upstairs not too long ago and I was going to go up there and tuck him in," she told him. "How's your arm?" he asked her as he moved to the kitchen table and sat down. "It's manageable. I took two more Tylenol," she said and he gave her a small smile.

Andy watched Sharon retreat upstairs as he sat in the kitchen. Sharon walked into Matthew's room and tucked him into bed. "Good night sweetie," she kissed his forehead and closed the door halfway as she left the room.

She decided that she wanted to take a shower before heading to bed so she got everything ready in their bathroom, finding some plastic wrap that she could used to cover her arm with and started to run the water, waiting for it to warm up.

After she was done with her shower, she got ready for bed. As she opened the door from the bathroom to the bedroom, she was hoping Andy would be waiting for her but the room was empty. She went through her nightly routine and climbed into bed, thinking Andy would be up soon. A few minutes later she fell asleep.

A few hours later, she woke up and turned over, reaching her right arm for Andy but he wasn't there. She sat up and looked at the clock on her night stand. "12:30," she sighed and started to get out of bed. She wrapped her silk robe around her body and started for her search of Andy.

She found him downstairs in the family room, asleep on the couch with Moxie laying down next to him on the floor. Moxie lifted his head as Sharon entered the room and he sat up. "Hey Moxie, time for bed," she told the dog and he got up and walked over to the stairs, climbing them one by one.

Sharon sat down on the little space between Andy and the edge of the couch. "Andy," she whispered his name as she caressed his side with her hand. He didn't move but mumbled something incoherent to Sharon. "Andy," she whispered again, moving her hand to his face.

His eyes opened and blinked several times before they focused on her. "What time is it?" he tried to shift but couldn't really move anywhere on the couch. "It's after 12:30 in the morning," she told him. He groaned and she patted his legs to indicate she wanted to sit further on the couch. He obliged and moved them, allowing her to sit back against his body.

"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" she asked him as he was fully awake and holding her hand. He took a deep breath and sighed before he answered. "Because I thought I was in the dog house," he started to tell her but she stopped him by placing her finger on his lips and shook her head slightly.

"I'm not mad at you, and you're not in the dog house, Andy," she told him and lowered her lips to his and kissed him. "Now, please come upstairs because I miss you in our bed, and I want you to hold me," she smiled and he chuckled. "Admit it, you want me for my warmth," he said as he started to sit up and she moved to stand in front of him.

"I will admit it was a little cold up there, but with everything that happened today or yesterday, I just want you to be near me," she confessed, helping him stand up from the couch. "I can do that," he smiled and caressed her face with his left hand. They walked over to the stairs holding each other's hands and then climbed the stairs together.

Andy went to change in the bathroom and came out wearing sleep pants and a t-shirt. Sharon was waiting in bed for him and he gladly slipped behind her in bed, wrapping his right arm around her, making sure her left arm was ok and held her close to his body. "Good night," she whispered to him. "Good night," he said, kissing the side of her face and settling into the pillow.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** This is the last chapter of this story. Thank you everyone for your reviews on this story and for sticking with me as I haven't been able to update as much as I would have liked to. Please enjoy this...Thank you!

Chapter 15

A few days later….

Sharon stirred in Andy's arms as she started to wake up. "Merry Christmas Eve," Andy whispered into her ear, which brought a smile to her face. It was finally Christmas Eve and Sharon thought they would never get there, with everything that had happened the past couple of days, weeks, and months.

She turned her body in his arms and kissed him. "Merry Christmas Eve indeed," she said as they broke apart. "How's your arm?" he asked her as he gently stroked his hand up and down her back. "Hmm, surprisingly it doesn't hurt right now," she told him and laid her head on top of his bare chest.

Her eyes were looking at his left shoulder, which still was showing some bruising. "Your shoulder is still bruised," she whispered to him. "Yeah," he groaned as he shifted his body so that Sharon was now laying on their bed and he was looking down at her. Her hair was splayed out on her pillow and she looked breathtaking to him.

He was careful not to tweak her left arm as he leaned down and kissed her. She kissed him back and things started to get heated between them when they heard a soft knock at their door. She moaned as they broke their kiss. "Maybe if we're quiet, they will go away," he whispered to her.

Another knock came on the door. "I think one of us should answer the door," she whispered back to him. "I think that has to be you, babe," Andy groaned as he moved to the other side of the bed and laid there while Sharon sat up, placing the robe around her body as she stood up and walked over to the door.

She glanced at Andy making sure he was covered before she opened the door, slightly, and saw Matthew standing in the hallway, still dressed in his pajamas. "It's Christmas Eve!" he whispered to Sharon and she nodded. "Yes, it is sweetie," she smiled. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked him as Andy pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"Everyone else is sleeping, except me and Moxie," Matthew said and then saw Andy walking over to the door. "Hey kiddo, why don't we go downstairs and start to make some breakfast," Andy told him as he placed a kiss to Sharon's left shoulder. "That way, the smell of breakfast will wake everyone else up and it will give a chance for Mommy to get herself ready," Andy continued as he moved past Sharon and stood in the hallway with Matthew and Moxie.

Andy turned around to look at Sharon and she gave him a loving smile. He returned her smile and followed Matthew and Moxie downstairs to the kitchen. "Is Mom okay?" Matthew asked Andy as soon as they were downstairs.

"What do you mean by that?" Andy asked him as he turned on the kitchen lights. "Well, I noticed that she doesn't use her left arm like she used to, I was just wondering if something happened to her?" Matthew said innocently.

Andy didn't know how to answer Matthew. He was right, of course, because Sharon wasn't using her left arm due to her injury a few days ago. He had wanted to tell the kids what had happened but Sharon didn't want them to worry.

"Oh, uh, well," Andy started to say as he looked at Matthew and sighed. Andy rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and sat the boy down at the kitchen table. "Alright, truth is yes, Mom did hurt her arm, but she's fine," Andy told him.

"How did she hurt it?" Matthew inquired. Andy looked over Matthew's head to the hallway. "When she got the bad guy a couple of days ago," Andy whispered to him. There were a few seconds of silence between the two. "Okay," Matthew shrugged his shoulders and got off the chair, making his way towards the refrigerator.

"Okay?" Andy mumbled to himself as he stood up and walked over to the stove, grabbing a couple of pans and placing them on top of the burners. "Can you grab the eggs, and the white bread?" he asked Matthew as he made his way to the pantry to get a couple of things out.

Matthew managed to balance the carton of eggs and the bread as he took them out of the refrigerator and placed them on top of the counter. "Thank you," Andy told him as he returned with the cooking spray and a small bottle of cinnamon.

"What to you say to French toast, eggs, maybe a little bacon for the meat lovers here, huh?" Andy asked as he grabbed a bowl from one of the top cabinets and placed it on the counter. "Sounds great!" Matthew smiled.

"Okay, can you help me crack the eggs?" Andy asked and Matthew nodded. The two of them started to make breakfast.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Sharon was getting herself ready for the morning. She was in the bathroom getting dressed when there was a knock on the bedroom door. "Come in," she said as she brushed her hair. Emily stepped in the room and saw that her mom was in the bathroom getting ready.

"Morning Mom, Happy Christmas Eve!" Emily smiled as she stood there watching her. "Oh Emily! Good Morning my angel," Sharon said and placed the hair brush down on the sink before they hugged each other.

"How was your performance last night?" Sharon asked as they hugged. "Good Mom, remember I said that I received flowers that one day, from some unknown person?" Emily stated. "Yes, did you find out who it was?" Sharon nodded her head as she asked her daughter.

"Well, it turns out that it was from one of the guys on the crew of the set," Emily broke her mom's hug and leaned up against one of the sinks as she spoke. Sharon looked at her as she tried to follow what she was saying. "What?" Sharon said.

"I know, I know, I guess he was also on the crew for one of my performances back in New York and he secretly had a crush on me," Emily giggled. Sharon's eye brows raised up as she watched her daughter smile and giggle.

Sharon raised her left arm and Emily saw the bandage wrap underneath her long sleeve shirt. "Mom! What happened to you?" Emily asked, changing the subject as she pointed out the bandage. Sharon closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I'm fine, I just hurt my arm a little when we were confronting our murderer the other day, please don't worry," Sharon said, pulling her sleeve further down to cover the rest up. Before Emily could say anything, Sharon continued. "And please don't worry your brothers about it either, I really am fine," Sharon assured her. Emily was a little skeptical but agreed with her mom.

"Is that bacon I smell?" Emily asked as the two of them walked out of the bathroom. "Yes, Andy is cooking breakfast with your little brother," Sharon said as she turned off the lights in their bedroom and stepped into the hallway with Emily.

"Which one?" Emily chuckled and Sharon smiled. "Matthew," she said and glanced at her watch. "I wouldn't expect Ricky or Rusty up this early," Sharon continued as the two of them walked down the stairs and headed into the kitchen.

"I think we'll eat buffet style," Andy said as Sharon and Emily walked into the kitchen. He was taking the French toast off of the griddle and placed them on a big plate. He then handed the plate to Matthew and he placed it on the island, alongside the plate that had the strips of bacon.

Sharon stepped behind Andy and wrapped her arms around his mid-section, placing a kiss on the back of his neck. "Thank you for cooking us breakfast," she told him and he smiled, grabbing a bowl and placing the cooked eggs into it as she walked over to the cabinet that held the dishes.

They were all sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast as Ricky and Rusty joined them. Ricky woke up due to the smell of bacon and had a big pile of bacon on his plate as he sat down at the table. Rusty had to be called over the phone by Sharon. Everyone was enjoying breakfast as Emily, Ricky, and Rusty were talking amongst themselves.

Andy sat back and watched the scene unfold in front of him. It brought a smile to his face as he watched them interact with one another. He caught Sharon's eyes as she did the same and he winked at her, which made her laugh a little bit.

Matthew was sitting next to Sharon and he leaned over to her. "I'm sorry you hurt your arm getting the bad guy," he whispered. She glanced across the table at Andy and then back at Matthew. "Oh, sweetie, don't worry, I'm okay," she ruffled his hair as he went back to eating.

Later on, that afternoon, Sharon was sitting at her desk in the den, working on her computer when she heard a commotion in the family room. "Mom! Mom!" Ricky's voice shouted as he got closer to the den. Sharon thought something had happened so she stood up and saw Ricky coming towards her.

"What's the matter?" she asked him as she stepped out into the hallway to meet him. "Is it true you injured your arm a couple of days ago?" Ricky stood there, concerned. Sharon rolled her eyes. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell any of you about it," she shook her head.

"Hey, what's going on?" Andy came up from the basement, followed by Matthew. They were working on a train set in the basement. "Mom got hurt arresting your creep?" Ricky turned to Andy. "Matthew why don't you go in the family room, see if they're watching tv or something, okay?" Andy asked Matthew and he did.

"Ricky, let's go in the den," Andy gestured for Ricky to walk into the den and he did. Sharon and Andy followed him inside and closed the door. Ricky stood there with his arms folded across his chest. "Mom, before you or Andy say anything, I just want you to know that I'm concerned about you and when you hear something like, oh hey Mom got injured on the job, a couple of days later from your sister, it's cause for alarm," he told them.

"Alright, first of all, I appreciate the concern, Ricky, I really do," Sharon started to tell him. "And you, why didn't you do anything? You're supposed to protect her!" Ricky turned to Andy and yelled at him. "Hey! It's not Andy's fault, and you will not yell at anyone here," Sharon scolded him and Ricky looked at his mother.

Andy looked at Sharon and gave her a silent nod before he spoke. "Look Ricky, yeah, your mother got injured during a search of our latest dirtbag, do I feel absolutely horrible that I couldn't stop that? Yes, but I know your Mom can take care of herself, she's one tough lady in my book," Andy told him.

"She didn't want to tell you kids because she knew it would upset you and Emily, and perhaps Matthew a little, although he seems to be doing okay with it now," Andy continued. "So, don't be mad at your Mom, if you want to be mad at someone, you can be mad at me," he ended.

Ricky stood there in front of his mother and step-dad. His face changed from anger to defeat. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's Christmas Eve and I certainly don't want to ruin anybody's Christmas, had enough of those growing up," he muttered the last part but Sharon still heard him.

Later on, that evening, Nicole, Dean, and the boys came over for a pre-appetizer meal before they all attended Midnight Mass at church. "Hey, let me show you all a new card game I learned on one of my business trips up North," Ricky said to Dean, Andy, and Rusty as they were all sitting around the kitchen table.

Ricky came back with two decks of cards and started shuffling them. "I hope this isn't poker," Rusty teased Ricky as he started to deal the cards onto the table. "No, it's not poker," Ricky said back as he flipped three cards on the table in front of them.

Rusty eyed Andy as he watched Ricky deal the cards to him and Dean. "Okay, so you always need to have three cards in your hands as we go around the table," Ricky started to explain to them. They all got the idea and started to play the game.

Meanwhile, Sharon, Emily, and Nicole were talking in the dining room. Nicole was still nibbling on one of the Christmas cookies that Sharon had made. "You really need to give me this recipe," she told Sharon. "Hmm, well next time I make them, and your father loves them too so I'm sure it will be soon, I'll call you over and we can make them together," Sharon smiled and Nicole nodded.

"Emily, are you finished with your ballet production this year?" Nicole asked Emily. "Yes, actually the group is taking two weeks off before auditions and pre-production of the next performance starts," Emily sounded excited as she said that. "I've been looking forward to getting some much-needed time off too," she giggled as she looked at her mom.

"That may give you time to pursue some other things as well," Sharon pointed out to Emily and Emily started to blush. Nicole saw this and wondered what was going on. "Oh Emily, do tell me what's going on?" Nicole giggled as well. "Well, it turns out I have two guys who are interested in me," she smiled and they all squealed together.

Back in the kitchen, Rusty groaned as he picked up the pile of cards because he didn't have anything in his hand higher than a King. Ricky laughed as he did that. "Oh, I wouldn't laugh, you were in that same boat not too long ago," Andy pointed out to him as he was holding one card in his hand. Ricky squinted back at Andy as he looked to see what card Andy had placed down on the table.

A few minutes later, Andy had won that hand and all the guys started to groan. Sharon walked into the kitchen to grab another refill on wine when she heard all the guys at the table. "What's going on over here?" she inquired as she walked to the island.

"Your husband has won two times so far at this new card game Ricky taught us," Dean chimed in as he took the cards that Rusty had dealt him. Sharon smiled and walked over to stand behind Andy. "That's my boy," she grinned and leaned down to give Andy a kiss on his cheek which then made Andy smile.

"Ugh come on guys!" Rusty complained to both Sharon and Andy as he looked at his cards. "Oh please, that was an innocent kiss," Sharon stated and went back to the counter of the island to grab her wine glass. Sharon smiled at all of the guys sitting at the kitchen table and went back to the dining room to be with her daughter and step-daughter.

She was surprised to see Matthew, Colin, and Avery in the dining room as well. "Is the movie over already?" she asked them as she sat down at her spot. "No, we just came in for reinforcements," Avery stated as he placed another cookie in his mouth. The three ran off back into the family room to finish the movie they were watching.

It was now close to midnight and the whole family was sitting in the pew at church. They were listening to the bell choir play their songs before the start of Midnight Mass occurred. Sharon looked down the row and saw everyone was enjoying listening to the music. She leaned back and glanced up at Andy. He looked down and gave her a wink. She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

After Mass was over, Nicole, Dean, and the boys parted ways with Sharon, Andy, and the rest of them. "We'll see you tomorrow night for dinner," Sharon told them as she kissed Nicole's cheek. "I hope Santa is good to you," Andy said to both Colin and Avery. "Good night, drive carefully," Nicole told them and they left.

When they got home, all of the kids went to bed, leaving Sharon and Andy in the family room. They re-arranged all of the presents that they had brought up from the spare room in the basement. "I'm surprised Matthew didn't peek at these when we were down there this afternoon," Andy huffed as he placed a big present for Matthew on the side of the tree.

"Hopefully, this is the last year he believes in Santa," Andy added as he flopped down on the couch. Sharon turned around and looked at him. She smiled as she walked over to him. "Are you all tuckered out from being Santa?" she asked but couldn't hold a straight face and started to giggle. "Shhhh, you'll wake them all and I won't be able to do this," Andy stood up and held out his hand to her.

Sharon gave him a look and placed her hand in his. He smiled and moved them over to an open area in the family room. "Alexa, play Frank Sinatra Christmas on Pandora!" Andy called out and Sharon heard Alexa repeat what Andy asked. She smiled as Frank Sinatra's voice started singing, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,".

Andy held Sharon close to him as they started to dance as best as they could to that song. She laid her head on his chest and he held her to him as they moved together. The year went by fast for them with many happy moments along with some crazy, trying times along the way. Injuries and illnesses but they were both grateful to be in each other's arms. "I love you," Andy whispered. "I love you too," Sharon smiled in reply. "Merry Christmas, babe," Andy said and kissed Sharon as they danced.

The end


End file.
